Andrew Tate ‘sought help of right-wing politicians from prison’
Tate instructed two associates to tell Mr Simion and Ms Iovanovici-Sosoaca that supporting him would be “very good for their careers”
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Andrew Tate sought the backing of two right-wing politicians from his prison cell in Romania to help fight rape and trafficking allegations, wiretaps of phone calls have claimed.
Transcripts of the phone calls were submitted to court by Romanian prosecutors and claim that Tate tried to recruit Romanian politicians George Simion, president of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians, and Diana Iovanovici-Sosoaca, a prominent critic of Covid restrictions, to back him.
Tate apparently instructed two associates to tell Mr Simion and Ms Iovanovici-Sosoaca that supporting him would be “very good for their careers”, according to one transcript.
“So make it clear to them: You will get a lot of votes when Tate says you took their side,” Tate said in the call on January 28, according to documents.
The calls were made between January 28-31, according to prosecutors, about a month after Tate was detained.
Mr Simion denied Tate contacted him and told Reuters that he would not publicly support the social media influencer if he was asked to.
While a spokesperson for Senator Iovanovici-Sosoaca said the wiretapped conversations were “lies” designed to attack her.
Tates’ lawyer and prosecutors have not commented on the matter.
One call transcript shows Tate telling an associate to release “party clips” on social media that he said showed at least one of his alleged trafficking victims dancing in Bucharest.
“Yes, put them everywhere and say, ‘This girl says she is kidnapped when she is not kidnapped’,” Tate said according to the exchanges.
“You’re saying you want me to discredit them, have social media pull hard, yes?” the associate asks. “Yes, screw them,” Tate replies.
The transcripts appear in Romanian in the court document and were translated back into English by Reuters.
Tate, 36, was accused alongside his brother Tristan Tate, 34, of recruiting women and subjecting them to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion”, allegations both men deny.
The two brothers have been detained in Romania since December 2022. A Romanian court this week rejected an appeal by Andrew Tate against the continuation of his detention, ruling he should remain in custody until 29 March.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments