“I’ve done this with over 100 girls,” Tate said, about compelling women into sex work. “I almost sound evil. But I’m not.”Photo illustration by Kensuke Koike; Source photographs from Getty; ShutterstockWhen the British American influencer Andrew Tate was arrested for human trafficking in Romania, in 2022, he claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy to silence him. At the time, Tate was becoming one of the most famous people on the planet—videos of his masculinist pep talks and misogynistic rants were being shared billions of times online—and his vast reach made him a political force. Prosecutors went on to allege that Tate and his brother Tristan had coerced dozens of women into online sex work, but right-wing allies in the United States, including Donald Trump, Jr., Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens, lined up to defend them. After Donald Trump’s reëlection in 2024, Romania succumbed to American pressure and released the Tates from a travel ban. Since then, the brothers have travelled the world, while being hailed in MAGA circles as free-speech heroes.At a cigar lounge in Bucharest this spring, Andrew Tate assured me that the trafficking investigation was “just garbage out of a corrupt country.” The brothers strenuously denied that they had hurt a single woman, and Andrew issued me a challenge: “Show me a victim. Show me a hurt girl. Show me a bruise. Show me a girl chained up. Show me something.” Digging into the case, I obtained an extensive cache of prosecutorial records, in addition to thousands of leaked files and messages from within the Tates’ inner circle. I also gathered accounts from more than a dozen of the Tates’ alleged victims, and interviewed some of their closest associates and advisers. The evidence revealed a detailed account of how the Tates built a vast empire of online exploitation. “I’ve done this with over 100 girls,” Andrew bragged to associates as he discussed coercing one woman into sex work, explaining that his goal was to turn women into “loyal slaves.” Today’s story is the product of nine months of reporting, and, as always, I’m indebted to The New Yorker’s extraordinary team of fact checkers for combing over every detail. We hope you’ll read and share it.Read or listen to the story »This Week’s IssueCover by Barry Blitt