Tristan Tate has claimed that the “official story” about the charges against him and his brother Andrew accuses them of taking money from girls on TikTok.
Back in December 2022, the Tate brothers – Andrew and Tristan – were arrested by Romanian authorities as part of an investigation into human trafficking, rape, and forming an organized crime group. Their Romanian home was also raided in the process, with cars and other items being seized.
The brothers, along with two women, were held by authorities until May before finally being released. Though, they were placed under house arrest for at least 30 days.
Numerous social media accounts sent messages on behalf of the Tate’s while they were being held by authorities, but now they’re back home, they’ve started streaming again. Their return stream was watched by over 400,000 viewers and contained some claims about their arrests.
Tate brothers claim they’re being investigated for stealing TikTok income
“Here is the official story. In 2021, two years ago, my brother and I formed an organized criminal gang with the intent of moving women to Romania so we could steal money from their TikTok accounts to enrich ourselves,” Tristan said during their stream.
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He acknowledged that he used to run a webcam studio, where women were put to work, but it is now defunct. He claimed there is “no link” between that and what he and his brother are currently being accused of.
“That is the narrative, that is what I have been arrested for,” he added, referring back to the claim about making money from TikTok. “This is the first time publicly I can finally clear that up.”
Tristan Tate sets the record straight on the charges that the Tate brothers are accused of. #DramaAlert pic.twitter.com/mRu5qWBpmP
— DramaAlert (@DramaAlert) June 14, 2023
As per Reuters and other reports, the Tate brothers and the two female suspects’ official charges are for forming an organized criminal gang, suspected human trafficking of multiple victims, and an accusation of rape. The Tate brothers deny all charges.
Charges against them were recently “broadened” and changed the investigation to a focus on “human trafficking in continued form.” This, as per Romanian officials, is a “more serious crime” than the separate counts of trafficking and as such could land them up to 10 years of prison time.