By Jane Musgrave, Stet News
A 23-year-old former Delray Beach woman is at the center of a growing international drama that began three years ago when she helped persuade Romanian officials to file human trafficking charges against kickboxing stars turned social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate.
In separate defamation lawsuits in Palm Beach County Circuit Court and U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach, the Tate brothers accuse the woman of trumping up the allegations against them as part of a sinister pattern of exploiting men.
“She is a serial extortionist and blackmailer who preys on successful men,” wrote attorneys for the brothers. “On multiple occasions, she has accused innocent men of horrific crimes resulting in their unjust incarceration and damage to their professional and business reputations.”
The woman, who has fled the state for her own protection and is referred to only as Jane Doe in court papers, counters that the Tate brothers are trying to sully her reputation to deflect attention from their own twisted lifestyles.
“The Tates will never forgive Jane Doe for being the woman who resisted them,” her attorneys from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation wrote in court papers. “They hate women, but they really hate women who fight back, who call them to account for their violence.”
Neither Doe’s attorneys nor those representing the Tates returned emails for comment.
Andrew Tate, 38, is a self-described misogynist. Attracting millions of followers on social media platforms, he and his 36-year-old brother promote the “manosphere” movement, which urges men to push back against feminism and hold women accountable for their grievances, including sexual assault.
While judges in both cases ordered that most of the court documents be sealed and their accuser’s name be kept secret, the brothers have used their online pulpits to continue to harass the young woman, her attorneys said.
For instance, while the salacious $5 million-plus complaint they filed against her in circuit court is sealed, they shared it with online supporters where their damning allegations, including her name, remain available.
It and public court records paint disturbing pictures of both the woman and the brothers, who created a political firestorm late last month when they were allowed to leave Romania for the first time in two years and arrived in Fort Lauderdale on a private jet.
Knowing the Tates regularly post comments praising President Donald Trump, critics suggested he had appealed to Romanian officials to allow the brothers to travel. Trump denied it.
But, according to the BBC, the Romanian foreign minister told news outlets that Richard Grenell, Trump’s special envoy for missions, had mentioned the Tates during a recent meeting. But, the minister said, he didn’t consider it “a form of pressure.”
TRUMP DENIES HELPING TATE BROTHERS
Other leaders in Romania and women in Britain, where the Tates face separate rape and human trafficking charges dating back to 2012, voiced outrage.
They insisted Trump intervened. They said they worry that Trump may try to sink the criminal case Romanian prosecutors built.
The political fallout spread to Florida when Gov. Ron DeSantis, parting with many of Trump’s Tate-loving followers, said the brothers weren’t welcome in the state. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he was investigating whether the brothers had violated any Florida laws.
In response, Andrew Tate took to his account on X, formerly Twitter, to taunt DeSantis.
“Your wife will never win governor unless you arrest me, @GovRonDeSantis,” Tate wrote in one post. “You’ve proven to be a communist who attacks American citizens for zero. When Americans who are unfairly imprisoned abroad return home you betray them. You better nail me now. Let’s go. Arrest me.”
For the globe-trotting brothers, who have dual citizenship in the United States and Britain and are each said to have net worths of well over $100 million, the visit to South Florida is a return to a place where their lives began to unravel.
Tristan Tate met the woman through Hinge, an online dating app, according to the lawsuit Miami attorney Thomas Maniotis and New York lawyer Joseph McBride filed for the brothers in circuit court. In December 2021, Tristan Tate invited her to what the Tates call a “War Room” event in Miami.
Men who join the War Room pay as much as $8,000 to learn how to “become the very best versions of themselves through physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial development,” according to online promotions.
At the event, Tristan invited the woman to an after party, sparking a two-week romance.
“T. Tate’s life would never be the same,” the Tates attorneys wrote.
Nor would the life of the woman, who Stet is identifying only as Jane Doe.
After Tristan returned to Romania, the two remained in touch, court records say. Tristan claims Doe wanted to come to Romania to launch a modeling career.
She claims he encouraged her to come, paying for her $4,000 airfare from Palm Beach International Airport to Bucharest and texting her, “You’re moving to Europe,” “January you fly,” “Okay?”, according to her attorneys.
The Tates said she had a fabulous time during her six-day visit, shopping, meeting people, exploring the city and “even going to a birthday party.”
JANE DOE’S VERSION OF EVENTS
Doe tells a far different story.
While she has filed a counterclaim against the brothers in state court, it has been sealed at the request of the Tates. But, in other court documents, her attorneys describe her growing trepidation once she arrived at the Tates’ estate outside of Bucharest where they have lived since 2015.
She couldn’t freely leave the compound and became convinced the Tates were engaged in human trafficking, according to a motion her attorneys filed in the federal court case. She contacted a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant she knew in the United States and texted him about her fears.
“These guys are actually evil … they make women cut themselves … and sell their bodies … and coerce them … and threaten them … saying if they talk about their secrets they might disappear or die,” she told him in texts her attorneys included in court papers.
The sergeant was concerned. He contacted his commanding officer, who told him to report Doe’s allegations to the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Doe’s attorneys wrote. Both Doe and the sergeant also contacted her parents, who also became concerned for her safety.
On April 12, 2022, police raided the Tates’ compound and Doe and a woman she befriended, who is a Romanian national, were taken to safety, her attorneys said.
An investigation began and in December 2022 the Tates were arrested, with Andrew accused of rape and human trafficking and Tristan suspected of human trafficking, according to the BBC and other news outlets.
While they blocked those charges from going to trial, in August they faced new allegations including sex with a minor, trafficking underage persons and forming an organized group to sexually exploit women. They have denied all charges.
The Tates’ attorneys scoffed at the notion that Doe was prevented from leaving the compound.
The Tates have about two dozen armed guards, mostly former Romanian police officers, who guard the estate, their attorneys said in court filings. Doe was cleared by the guards and allowed to come and go freely. Video recorded at the estate would prove the claims, the attorneys wrote.
The Tates’ lawyers also vehemently objected to Doe’s contention that Tristan Tate strangled her until she passed out while they were having sex. In another court filing, Doe’s lawyers say the brothers “tried to sex traffic (her) into pornography.” Tates’ lawyers labeled all of her allegations “fantastical.”
ACCUSE THE ACCUSER
Instead, they claim, Doe and her new Romanian friend concocted the stories as part of their plans to extort $200,000 from Andrew Tate, the attorneys wrote.
They said it is well-honed talent. “(Doe) is a predator who has a long history of baiting men into sexual relationships for the specific purpose of destroying their lives,” they wrote.
Much of their 57-page circuit court complaint details what they describe as Doe’s relationships with other men who fell prey to her scheme.
Meeting men on online dating apps, she lied about her age and later threatened to call authorities, claiming the men knowingly had sex with an underage teen, the attorneys wrote.
They refer to “Jailed John,” who they said was unfairly sentenced to a lengthy prison term for having sex with Doe when she was 15.
Another man, from Palm Beach Gardens, has sued Doe in circuit court for extortion, civil conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He claims she lied to him about her age and falsely accused him of domestic violence.
When the then 34-year-old software engineer began dating Doe in 2018, she told him she was 23. Only later, did he discover she was 17.
Stet isn’t identifying the man or others listed in the lawsuits to protect their identities as well as Doe’s.
In text messages included in his lawsuit against Doe, the Gardens man tells her that he has been asked to give the Tates information he has about her to help the brothers launch a court battle against her. The information includes texts she sent him while they were dating.
The texts are used to damn Doe in both suits. Her attorneys claim they are taken out of context.
The Gardens man sued Doe in July 2023, two days before the Tate brothers filed their lawsuit against her. He is represented by Maniotis, one of the attorneys representing the Tates.
Doe’s attorneys claim the Palm Beach Gardens man joined forces with the Tates to help them pressure Doe to recant her testimony in their criminal case in Romania.
Similar tactics have been tried before, they said.
They point to a cease and desist letter a Texas law firm sent Doe in January 2023. In the letter, included in the court files, the attorneys warn that if Doe doesn’t stop making “false and defamatory” statements against the brothers, a $300 million lawsuit would be filed against her and her parents.
Her attorneys also claim the Tates’ attorneys are misrepresenting her relationships with other men.
For instance, they said Doe didn’t report “Jailed John” to authorities. Instead, they claim, a private investigator learned of John’s sexual misdeeds, which also involved another underage teen, and reported it to police.
In any case, the attorneys said, Doe’s past has nothing to do with what happened to her in Romania.
“Questions regarding such unrelated people and occurrences are clearly being used to annoy, distract, embarrass, humiliate, and burden Jane Doe and should not be permitted,” they wrote.
It is a classic strategy used by men to avoid being held accountable for their actions, they argued.
It’s called DARVO, the attorneys wrote. The acronym stands for deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender.
“It is a standard tactic that domestic abusers, rapists, sex traffickers, and other perpetrators commonly use to gaslight not only their victims, but institutions and systems, including legal systems,” they wrote.
TATES SUFFER COURT SETBACKS
So far, the Tates’ lawsuits have met with little success.
U.S. District Court Judge Robin Rosenberg in January 2024 dismissed the lawsuit, sending it back to circuit court to be resolved.
She ruled that the Tates couldn’t sue the sergeant who notified the U.S. Embassy of Doe’s claims of human trafficking. He was doing his job when he reported Doe’s claims to authorities.
Without the U.S. military officer, there was no federal jurisdiction in the case, Rosenberg ruled.
Meanwhile, Circuit Judge Joseph Curley in November dismissed the Romanian national Doe befriended from the lawsuit.
She is a Romanian/Moldovan citizen living in the United Kingdom who has never traveled to the United States, much less Florida, Curley noted. The long arm of Florida law can’t reach her, he ruled.
He also ruled in July 2024 that the Tates can’t sue Doe’s parents for defaming the brothers by reporting their daughter’s claims to authorities in Romania. They weren’t being malicious, rather they were concerned about their daughter’s safety, he ruled.
However, the Tates filed a new complaint and the couple is back in the case.
And, so, the legal battle continues.
On Saturday, the brothers flew back to Romania. But, they are expected to return to the United States.
“Spending 185,000 dollars on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania,” Andrew Tate posted on his X account. “Innocent men don’t run. THEY CLEAR THEIR NAME IN COURT.”
In the accompanying photo, aboard the jet, he gives a thumbs up.
Stet News is a free, nonprofit, independent news site focused on Palm Beach County, led by the local journalists who created it, dedicated to the communities it serves. Florida Bulldog and Stet News are members of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN).
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