Romania’s Bucharest prosecutors said on Tuesday that Andrew Tate, a divisive social media celebrity, and his brother Tristan were charged with rape, human trafficking, and organizing a group to use women as slaves.

The brothers, who share citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom as well as two Romanian women, are the targets of the allegations, according to DIICOT, Romania’s anti-organized crime organization.

The agency said in a statement that the four defendants established a criminal organization in 2021 “to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania, as well as in the US and the UK. It was claimed that seven female victims were tricked into traveling to Romania, where the group physically assaulted and sexually assaulted them.

In late December, in Bucharest, the country’s capital, the Tate brothers and two Romanian suspects were taken into custody. On 31 March, the brothers’ plea for house arrest instead of police custody was successful.

Tate, 36, a professional kickboxer, has millions of followers on Twitter. He moved to Romania in 2017, although he had previously been barred from using several social media sites because of sexist opinions and expression of hate speech.

He has repeatedly insisted that Romanian prosecutors lack evidence and that his case is a political conspiracy to silence him.

Prosecutors have ordered the seizure of the Tate brothers’ assets, which include 15 high-end automobiles, expensive watches, and nearly $3 million in Bitcoin, according to the agency’s announcement.

According to Mattia Petrescu, a representative of Tate, the brothers are “ready to demonstrate their innocence and uphold their reputations.”

According to Petrescu, “Tate’s legal team stands ready to cooperate fully with the relevant authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and to expose any misrepresentation or false allegations.”