Romanian prosecutors officially indicted social media influencer Andrew Tate on Friday for trafficking minors, money laundering, sex with a minor and witness tampering.
His brother Tristan has also been indicted for complicity in charges that come years after prosecutors first began investigating them.
The Tate brothers, former kickboxers with dual US and British citizenship, were arrested in Miami in July after Britain requested their extradition.
Mainly based in Romania since 2017, they have been under criminal investigation in the country on charges including human trafficking since December 2022. They have denied all wrongdoing.
Romanian prosecutors said the Tates recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming to want a relationship or marriage, before forcing them to produce pornographic content for a webcam business.
'We will examine every aspect of (the indictment) with the same level of scrutiny and we will challenge any evidential, procedural or legal deficiencies through the appropriate judicial process,' a Romanian lawyer for the Tates, Eugen Vidineac, said in a statement.
'Our clients continue to reject the allegations against them.'
The spokesman for the Romanian anti-organised crime prosecuting unit DIICOT – which is investigating the Tates – said it was not immediately clear whether the unit will seek their extradition from the US.
DIICOT alleges that in 2012 the brothers recruited a 15-year-old girl in Luton, a town in England where the brothers are from, and that they obtained more than $1.2 million (£890,000) from her webcam activity after she was repeatedly transported to Romania.
The crime agency alleges that Tristan Tate knew the victim's age, that she had been recruited by Andrew, and that between 2014 and 2021 he knowingly deceived her about his brother's 'feelings and intentions,' which helped to facilitate her sexual exploitation.
It is further alleged that between December 2020 and mid-2021, Andrew Tate 'repeatedly had sexual intercourse and sexual acts with another minor victim,' who was also aged 15.
Andrew Tate, right, and his brother Tristan, left, have been indicted by Romanian prosecutors; Pictured in April 2026 in Miami
Between December 2023 and July 2024, DIICOT alleges the Tates tried to 'hide or disguise the illicit origin of the money' obtained from human trafficking by purchasing four luxury cars worth about 825,000 euros (£709,000), and said they had requested the vehicles confiscated.
The Tates can be tried in absentia in Romania, but the trial will not start immediately. Under Romanian law, the indictment gets sent to a preliminary court chamber, where a judge will inspect the case files to ensure legality.
While the law states that the preliminary chamber judge has 60 days to finalise the report, indictments routinely take significantly longer.
The Tate brothers remain in federal prison while a judge decides on the request for their extradition to Britain, where they are wanted on rape charges.
Last week, the brothers told a Florida court they should be released from jail in order to fight their extradition to the UK, where they are facing charges of rape and trafficking.
Andrew, 39, said he has 'never committed the crimes I'm accused of'.
Tristan, 38, meanwhile said his prison conditions were small and hot, adding that he gets little exercise and sunlight.
He told the court: 'It's beginning to grate on me because I can't partake in helping with my defence.'
'It's death by scurvy,' he said, adding he has so far lost 14lb (6.3kg). Tristan said there are ants and the only toilet in his cell is where anyone walking by can see him.
September to provide evidence to the US State Department.
The Tates have become among the world's most polarising internet personalities by promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny through their social media empire.
Andrew has said women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for the attacks and shared graphic descriptions of how he might attack women.
Tristan has worked with his brother on multiple businesses, including the production of online webcam pornography.
Andrew and Tristan Tate arrive before US President Donald Trump to attend UFC 327 at Kaseya Center, Miami, April 11, 2026
The brothers have long claimed that their violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.
'That is not the real Andrew Tate, the person Andrew Tate,' said his lawyer Howard Srebnick, who in court last Thursday compared Tate on social media to Sacha Baron Cohen's confrontational Ali G character.
Attorneys for the Tates also say they largely exaggerated their claims of wealth to boost their social media personas.
They say their claims of multiple passports were satirical and a '$50million superyacht' featured in one of the brothers' videos does not actually belong to them.
The expensive luxury cars, including a $2.1million Aston Martin, that were featured in other videos were rented, the defence says.
The Daily Mail has contacted a representative of the Tate brothers for comment.
More to follow.