Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse and exploitation that some readers may find disturbing.
Jane Doe was only 20 when she met Tristan Tate, a connection that she claims in a new lawsuit eventually resulted in the internet celebrity and his brother, Andrew Tate, coercing her to Romania under false pretenses to recruit her for online exploitation.
The American woman and her parents filed the civil lawsuit against the Tate brothers in a Florida court Monday, but this is not the first case brought against the Tates, who have been accused of human trafficking, money laundering and other crimes.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
The two online influencers had been at the center of cases in Romania and the United Kingdom, which included allegations of trafficking and sex crimes. The new lawsuit is the first case against the Tate brothers filed in the United States.
The family is represented by lawyers at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for legal and legislative action to combat sexual abuse.
“Jane Doe wasn’t trying to bring a lawsuit against Andrew Tate,” Dani Pinter, the senior vice president and director of the law center at NCOSE, told The Christian Post. “She did the right thing, and now the Tates have relentlessly come after her.”
In 2023, the Tate brothers sued the woman at the center of the recent complaint for defamation, claiming that she and another anonymous woman provided fabricated evidence to the Romanian authorities that resulted in their arrests in 2022.
“[The Tates] have sued her in three different lawsuits,” Pinter added. “She has tried to just get those dismissed, and she hasn’t been speaking out in the media until now. But they won’t stop. They’re relentless, so now she’s just defending herself and telling her side of the story.”
According to the suit, the unnamed woman met Tristan Tate in November 2021 through an online platform. The internet celebrity was “very charming, complimentary, and romantic” during these conversations, and Tristan Tate allegedly told the 20-year-old girl that she was “special.”
Doe met up with Tristan Tate several times, and at some point, she says he persuaded her join him in Romania. But when Doe arrived there in 2022, she sensed that the experience was “not normal.”
The lawsuit claims Tristan Tate introduced a set of rules, including no body hair and no “external friends.” Doe realized that most of the women she was living with at the time were working on OnlyFans, a platform where subscribers pay a fee to unlock videos and images created by users, which often appeal to sexual fetishes.
According to the complaint, some women Doe lived with were reportedly Andrew Tate’s girlfriends.
One of the women at the home, identified in the suit as Mary Doe, moved to Romania in 2022, believing that Andrew Tate loved her. But when Mary Doe arrived, the influencer restricted her movements and coerced her into having group sex with other women, according to the complaint.
Pinter told CP the Tate brothers’ tactic of gaining their victims’ trust and showing them affection is a common strategy used in modern-day sex trafficking, contrary to what people may have seen in movies or on television.
“I think that’s what a lot of people don’t understand,” the lawyer said. “They see movies like ‘Taken’ or other films that describe international child sex trafficking. And while these things occur and they’re horrible, the most common form of sex trafficking, particularly in the United States, is this Romeo pimp or lover boy method.”
Traffickers who utilize this method may profess love to vulnerable young women, Pinter said, which makes them feel special. The victims may come to feel a sense of dependency on their trafficker, who typically works to isolate them from any other potential support network.
“And then they’re able to use that control over them to exploit them through commercial sex,” the anti-sexual exploitation advocate said.
Jane and Mary Doe planned to escape, with the lawsuit claiming the other women in the house appeared to be helping the Tates “groom and manipulate them.” While Jane worried about the potential dangers of filing a report, one was eventually made to the U.S. Embassy, which alerted the Romanian authorities.
In 2022, the Romanian authorities raided the Tates’ compound, rescuing the two women. The Tate brothers then used their money and influence to begin a “campaign to harass and intimidate” Mary and Jane following their arrest, according to the complaint.
A Romanian court ruled in December 2024 that a human trafficking case against the brothers couldn’t go to trial due to issues with the indictment. The Romanian authorities are still investigating the brothers over allegations of money laundering and trafficking of minors.
Once the cases in Romania conclude, the brothers will be extradited to Britain and face sex crime charges there as four British woman have accused Andrew Tate of sexual assault and rape, according to The New York Times.
Despite multiple allegations against them, the Tate brothers continue to proclaim their innocence.
According to Pinter, her client’s hope in filing this complaint is that the public understands the truth and that the Tates can no longer manipulate people.
“So all we hope is that her side of the story and the truth of the allegations are out there so the public can see the full picture,” the lawyer said. “And then they can decide for themselves what they believe.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
