ANDREW Tate has threatened to sue a woman who accused him of trafficking for £249million to "shut down" the case against him.
The former kickboxer, 36, and his brother Tristan are currently behind bars in Romania as part of a probe into human trafficking, rape, and organised crime.
Lawyers for an alleged victim in America said a "cease-and-desist" letter was sent to her by a US law firm in December on behalf of the brothers.
The letter threatened to sue the woman and her parents for $300million (£249million) if she didn't retract her statements, the BBC reports.
The broadcaster has seen a redacted copy of the letter.
It said: "In April 2022, you falsely stated to a third party that our Client human trafficked you, abused you and held you against your will.
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"You have repeated false and defamatory statements to the police, the media, and another United States citizen about the Tate brothers."
Tina Glandian, a lawyer for the brothers, said the fact they are behind bars "is not a basis for them not to pursue their legal rights”.
The legal team said the brothers filed criminal complaints in Romania last April against two women – including the witness who received the "cease-and-desist" letter in December.
Benjamin Bull, who represents some of the witnesses in the Tate investigation, said the letter was designed to do "one thing and one thing only".
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"[It] was intended to shut down the witness – stop the witness from bringing testimony forward in any proceedings," he said.
"They want these young ladies to climb into a hole and hide, never come forward [or] describe what they saw and what happened to them. It's clearly an effort to intimidate."
Dani Pinter, part of the same legal team, said the two alleged victims have been getting death threats.
She said: "They're scared to death. They're both in hiding.
"They feel they can't settle anywhere, because people are trying to find them."
Pinter said many of her clients receive backlash online for speaking out.
The Sun has contacted Andrew's reps for comment.
Andrew and Tristan, along with two female suspects, were detained in Bucharest by Romanian anti-organised crime prosecutors pending a criminal investigation last month.
They are accused of recruiting women on social media platforms and persuading them to travel to their £600k villa on the outskirts of the country's capital.
The brothers would allegedly falsely claim to be in love with the young women, before making them perform sexual acts on webcams.
Women were forced to film porn videos in the compound and were kept under 24/7 house arrest, according to Romanian investigators.
Prosecutors also said one of the brothers raped one of the victims in March of last year, which is when the investigation started.
Court transcripts reveal how Andrew would try to force women to get his name tattooed on them – claiming that at least two already had done so.
Andrew has spent years creating a warped empire promoting toxic worldviews which have infected legions of fans through TikTok.
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Masquerading as lifestyle advice, much of the content is actually highly sexist and promotes violence against women.
His influence has had a worrying spread amongst teenage boys, with one UK MP saying he is "brainwashing" children.
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