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Shocking moment disgraced Andrew Tate’s spokeswoman GATECRASHES ‘victims’ press conference with bandaged face
THIS is the bizarre moment Andrew Tate's spokeswoman gatecrashed a press conference held by the lawyers of his alleged victims.
Pictured with a bandage plastered across her face, Mateea Petrescu fumed about the 36-year-old former kickboxer's "legal rights" as she barged her way to the front of the room.
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"Andrew Tate has the legal right to use and benefit from the legal system in the United States, where he is a citizen, the United Kingdom, where he is a citizen, or anywhere else in the world," she said.
US and British legal representatives of Tate's alleged victims held the press conference in Bucharest, Romania on Thursday.
Matthew Jury, from McCue Jury & Partners, said the influencer's legal and media team "turned up to heckle and disrupt" the event.
"The clowns brought the circus," the lawyer added.
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Interrupting the conference, Tate's lawyer Eugen Videneac reportedly shouted: "I have only one question.
"Have you read the transcripts between the two alleged victims where they were planning to lie to prosecutors?"
The lawyers claim that those "who are brave enough to speak out" are now being harassed and intimidated in a bid to silence them.
After the initial press conference concluded, Tate's team proceeded and took over the room to conduct their own press brief, much to the surprise of those attending.
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Jillian Roth from law firm Laffey, Bucci & Kent said: "These women are very afraid, they're terrified, they have been threatened, they've had people come to their place of work."
Roth, together with the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation, is defending the two key witnesses of the Romanian prosecution in a civil lawsuit Tate filed against them for defamation in the US.
"That lawsuit was filed only with the intent to intimidate, harass and to retaliate against the women who came forward to speak out against their abuse," Roth said.
A spokesperson for the National Centre on Sexual Exploitation said: "The Tate brothers and their associates have been maliciously harassing and threatening our clients.
"Now they have sued our clients in a US court for $5million for their truthful testimony and for their cooperation with Romanian authorities. One of our clients is a Romanian citizen.
"This is witness intimidation and it must stop.
"We are here in Romania to inform the Romanian authorities about what the Tate brothers are doing to their witnesses, to one of their citizens in America and abroad."
In a joint statement, the lawyers said: "These threats will not work, they will not prevent people from coming forward, and they will not prevent courts around the world from hearing their cases.
"We encourage people to play their part in stopping the spread of disinformation online and to think carefully about how their words in these spaces can affect people already suffering immensely."
The accusations were denied by a Tate spokesperson.
In Britain, four women are set to sue Tate after he allegedly choked them until blood vessels burst in their eyes.
Matthew Jury, one of their lawyers, said they had also been subjected to a campaign of threats, intimidation and harassment.
Tate's legal team said the allegations from the four women are "false and will be vehemently denied".
Former kickboxer Tate and his brother Tristan were released from the hellhole jail they had been held in for three months on March 31 on house arrest.
But the pair, who have dual US and British nationality, have now been formally charged.
They are awaiting trial in Romania on charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women - allegations they deny.
The indictment says the brothers - and two co-defendants - formed an organised criminal group in 2021 for human trafficking in Romania, the US and the UK.
It claims seven alleged victims were recruited by Tate through false promises of marriage or a relationship, known as the "loverboy method".
Tate initially gained fame after a short-lived appearance on Big Brother.
He was dumped from the reality show after alleged footage of him beating a woman emerged online.
Tate then built up an image that appealed to teenage boys - creating an online empire that made him one of the most searched people on Google.
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Masquerading as lifestyle advice, much of the content is considered highly sexist and is seen as promoting violence against women.
His influence has had a worrying spread amongst young men and boys, with one UK MP saying he is "brainwashing" children.
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