Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan appeared at a Romanian court on Wednesday to face charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The self-proclaimed misogynist, his sibling and two Romanian female suspects were earlier charged by Romanian authorities and will face trial.
The accused are all under house arrest pending a criminal investigation for abuses committed against seven women. The Tate brothers have denied the accusations.
Prosecutors claim the female victims included some who were “misled” by “false claims of marriage and love”.
Andrew Tate has also been charged with raping one of the victims, while his brother Tristan has been charged with instigating others to violence.
Asked by reporters: “How much money have you made from trafficking women?" outside court ahead of Wednesday's hearing, Tate replied: “Zero."
Tate's spokesperson said on Tuesday that the brothers were prepared to "demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation”.
She said: “Tate's legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations."
Under Romanian law, a judge has 60 days to inspect the case files to ensure legality. Trafficking of adults carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Tate, 36, has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and claims the case is politically motivated.
The brothers were first arrested in Bucharest in December last year and held in custody until March before being released under house arrest.
Romania's anti-organised crime agency said the seven alleged victims were recruited with false declarations of love and taken to Romania's Ilfov county, where they were forced to take part in pornography.
The women were allegedly controlled by “intimidation, constant surveillance" and claims they were in debt, prosecutors claim.
Prosecutors ordered the confiscation of the Tate brothers' assets, including 15 luxury cars, designer watches and about three million dollars (£2.3 million) in cryptocurrency, the agency said in a statement.
Andrew Tate is an American-British kickboxer born in Chicago, Illinois but raised in Luton, England. He is a son of the late chess player Emory Tate.
Tate worked as a TV producer while training as a kickboxer, before going on to fight professionally.
His appearance on Big Brother in 2016 kick-started his life in the public eye. Since then, Tate has gained notoriety for making offensive, misogynistic comments on social media.
Videos of Tate have amassed millions of views attracting widespread criticism and leading to calls from women’s charities to have him removed from social media.
