Andrew Tate: I am utterly sure I’ll be found innocent

Police escort Andrew Tate, right, to court in Bucharest, Romania. AP

Andrew Tate insisted he would be cleared of accusations of organised crime and human trafficking during a heated interview with the BBC.

The 36-year-old, who is under house arrest in Romania with his brother Tristan, said he was completely sure he would be found innocent.

The detained social media personality instead said he is a “force for good in the world” and a “positive influence”.

The British-American citizen, interviewed in his home, said: “We have an open criminal investigation – I am absolutely and utterly sure I’ll be found innocent.

“I know the case better than you, I know it intimately and you don’t, I have seen all the criminal files and the evidence against me and you haven’t, I know the truth of what happened and you don’t.

“And I’m telling you absolutely and utterly, I’ve never hurt anybody, that the case that’s been put against me is completely and utterly fabricated and I’m never going to be found guilty of anything.”

A number of campaign groups have claimed Tate’s views make him a danger to young men and boys who see his content online, while the National Education Union’s annual conference heard pupils are becoming misogynistic because of him.

Andrew Tate detained in Romania – in pictures

Police officers escort Andrew Tate to the Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania. AP

Tate, the divisive influencer and former professional kickboxer, was detained on suspicion of being involved in organised crime and human trafficking. AP

The British-American, who has 4.7 million followers on Twitter, was also accused of rape. Reuters

Tate, his brother Tristan and two women are escorted by officers into the Court of Appeal in Bucharest. EPA

Tate rose to notoriety in 2016 when he was removed from reality TV show Big Brother over a video that appeared to show him hitting a woman with a belt. Reuters

On a podcast last year, he said he started making money when he lived in London by convincing girlfriends to videochat and share the profits. AP

A police officer looks on as a luxury vehicle is seized on the outskirts of Bucharest, in the case against Tate. AP

A car is pictured at 'The Hustlers University' site belonging to Tate in Bucharest. AFP

Romania said it had identified six victims in a human-trafficking case who had been subjected to 'acts of physical violence and mental coercion'. EPA

Told about this, he responded: “That’s very upsetting and the reason that’s very upsetting is because I know that’s not true. I’m genuinely a good person. I believe my impact on the world is positive.

“I preach hard work, discipline – I’m an athlete, I preach anti-drug, I preach religion, I preach no alcohol, I preach no knife crime, every single problem with modern society I’m against.

“I’m teaching young men to be disciplined, to be diligent, to listen, to train, to work hard, to be exactly like me.

“And I’m saying that if men grew up like me, which are hardworking and diligent, with emotional control and stoic, we’re going to have a better society, not a worse society.

“To sit here and say that schools in England, which is a failing nation, which has knife crime going through the roof, violence going through the roof, men’s mental health going through the roof, and they’re going to all blame me because I appeared on the internet is disingenuous.”

Tate, who has lived in Romania since 2017 but is from Luton in southern England, has millions of followers online, where he promotes a luxury lifestyle he says is made possible through investments including a pornographic webcam business.

He gained mainstream notoriety for his misogynistic views, which led to him being banned from all major social media platforms, although Twitter reinstated his account after Elon Musk bought the company last year.

After the Tate brothers and two Romanian women were arrested in December, the country’s Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism said in a statement it had identified six alleged victims in the human trafficking case who were allegedly subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” and were sexually exploited.

The agency claimed the alleged victims were lured with pretences of love and later intimidated, placed under surveillance and subjected to other control tactics while being coerced into engaging in pornographic acts for the financial gain of the crime group.

Tate has claimed that Romanian prosecutors have no evidence and alleged their case is a political conspiracy designed to silence him.

After the interview, he said to his six million Twitter followers: “The mainstream media which vilify me beg me for interviews under the guise of ‘balanced’ journalism.

“The Matrix is desperate.”