Andrew Tate ‘tried to scare victims into silence’ from jail

‘We need the girls to cry’: the influencer’s defamation lawsuit against accusers leads to allegations of a ‘scorched earth’ smear campaign.

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, left, are set to be extradited to Britain after facing trial in Romania.Photo by Daniel Mihailescu/AFP

Andrew Tate, the online influencer accused of rape and human trafficking, has directed a “scorched earth” campaign of intimidation and harassment against his alleged victims and critics, according to claims in a lawsuit seen by The Times.

Tate and his younger brother Tristan filed civil defamation claims in Palm Beach circuit court, Florida, against one of their alleged victims and her parents, and against citizen journalists and prominent social media users who have posted negatively about the Tates.

Lawyers for two alleged victims - referred to as Jane Doe and Mary Doe to protect their identities - in turn provided the court with documents alleging the brothers tried to “silence” accusers, including by hiring private investigators and internet sleuths to gather intelligence to use against them. The lawyers claim Andrew Tate made calls from prison in Romania “instructing his cousin and other associates to create videos smearing Jane Doe and Mary Doe”.

Andrew Tate has said he is a victim of “the Matrix”, a cabal of people including the accusers’ lawyers and social media users named in the lawsuit, whom he believes are working against him. Picture: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

The brothers were arrested and jailed in Bucharest in late 2022. They were held for three months on trafficking charges before being let out on house arrest.

The brothers - who are set to be extradited to Britain after facing trial in Romania - are accused of luring Jane Doe, an American, from Florida to Bucharest earlier in 2022 to work in their online pornography business. Mary Doe is a Romanian-Moldovan who alleges she was also trafficked and coerced into sex work.

Lawyers for Jane Doe allege in the legal filing: “In these [prison] calls Tate said, ‘Keep going! Good job. Over and over again, different ones ... we need the girls to cry, to be frustrated, angry.’ Around the same time highly salacious, humiliating and defamatory videos about Jane and Mary Doe began circulating online and were shared and viewed thousands of times.”

Andrew Tate arrives at a police station in a Lada vehicle in Voluntari on May 21. Picture: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

Andrew Tate, 38, is also accused of sending people to Jane Doe’s parents’ house in Florida to take pictures of their home to “harass and intimidate them”.

The brothers allegedly paid Sulaiman Ahmed, a British influencer with more than 600,000 followers on X, to interview a “former suitor” of Jane Doe. Her lawyers say the Tates were seeking to “undermine her credibility as a witness”. The Times attempted to contact Ahmed for comment.

Jane Doe’s lawyers say the Tate brothers have lodged what amounts to a Slapp (strategic lawsuit against public participation), or “frivolous lawsuit to discredit, intimidate, humiliate and embarrass” anyone who speaks out against them. They claim the pair’s “scorched-earth litigation strategy” would be regarded as “odious and utterly intolerable in a civilised community”.

The Tate brothers are facing criminal and civil action in Romania, the UK and the US. Bedfordshire police obtained a warrant for their arrest over allegations of rape and human trafficking. The Tates deny all the allegations and are asking the Palm Beach civil court for 5 million in emotional damage they say was caused by slanderous statements. Thomas Maniotis, their lawyer in the US, called Jane Doe a “con artist” who “engages in romance scams”.

It was reported last week that the brothers would be handed to the UK authorities after the conclusion of court proceedings in eastern Europe.

Andrew Tate has said he is a victim of “the Matrix”, a cabal of people including the accusers’ lawyers and social media users named in the lawsuit, whom he believes are working against him.

The Times