Leaked Chat Logs From Andrew Tate's "War Room" Group Suggest Scores Of Women Were Groomed Into Sex Work
According to a recent investigation by the BBC, it appears that many women were groomed for sex work based on leaked chat logs from the "War Room" group of popular influencer Andrew Tate.
45 prospective victims are identified in the chat records between March 2019 and April 2020, according to the BBC. The total is 'likely' to be substantially higher, it says.
The broadcaster's research also discovered grounds for suspicion that Tate, the group's outwardly visible leader, is actually a self-described "wizard" who goes by the moniker "Iggy Semmelweiss," rather than Tate.
Tate, a 36-year-old former kickboxer who is now an influencer, and his brother Tristan are facing rape and human trafficking allegations in Romania.
The two were released from house arrest earlier this month. Both claim they are innocent and reject any accusations of impropriety.
Authorities charged the influencer with utilizing the 'loverboy' tactic to entice women to his Bucharest home under the pretense of being in a relationship before compelling them to perform sex work, after he was apprehended in Romania in December.
Last month, prosecutors said that up to seven female victims had been taken to Romania, where they had been coerced into participating in pornography, intimidated, and kept under constant watch.
Tate has also been charged with rape by one alleged victim. According to a statement by Romanian prosecutors, investigators believe one defendant sexually assaulted an alleged victim twice in March of last year.
Additionally, earlier information leak has showed that Tate utilised the £6,300 per year group to teach his followers how to entice and manipulate women into performing sex acts.
According to the BBC's 'The Man Who Groomed The World' investigation and documentary, there have allegedly been dozens more victims of the alleged program run by Tate's 'War Room' group.
The British broadcaster disclosed this on Thursday, citing 12,000 pages of encrypted messages sent by hundreds of members of the War Room via the Telegram messaging app.
The BBC reported that the investigation's messages were only available for a 13-month period, indicating that many more women may have been targeted and taken advantage of by the organisation, which was created in 2019.
The spokeswoman for Tate told the media outlet that the findings are "another brazen attempt to present one-sided, unverified" accusations.
Tate's spokesperson said in an email to MailOnline that the charges made in the BBC program are utterly unfounded and without merit.
It is believed that the Tate brothers are in charge of the War Room social network and Telegram channel, which gives its users access to their 'teachings' on sex, masculinity, and how to sway women.
War Room is a platform for forcing women to perform online sex work for the organization's members, according to sources, even if Tate's defenders claim it is nothing more than a self-help club.
This course is known by Tate by the initials "PhD," which he claims stand for "Pimpin' Hoes Degree."
The stolen batch of texts, according to the BBC, demonstrates how the War Room's leadership, also known as its "generals," gives members instructions on how to entice, control, coerce, and isolate women before manipulating them into appearing on webcams.
The majority of the money the ladies earn is thereafter to be taken, according to the investigation.
The messages imply that violence against women was taught and even encouraged by the so-called "generals," with some messages featuring images of a woman hunched over with cuts and scrapes on her butt.
According to the BBC, one War Room member going by the online identity "Joe Lampton" said that after a female employee of his complained, he "took her keyboard and hit her in the head with it." He claimed that she entered a room and "worked for seven hours without a break" as a result.
According to the investigation, Tate's War Room organization has 434 members as of August 2022. Members pay $8,000 (£6,300) a year to join, indicating the organization may have been bringing in more than £2.7 million annually for its owners.
The BBC claimed to have been able to identify several of the women who may have been subjected to abuse by group members, as well as 29 women who were targeted throughout the same time frame.
Two of the ladies, who lived thousands of miles away, were interviewed by its investigators, who discovered that War Room members had taken advantage of them in identical ways.
Both ladies, one from the West Coast of the United States and the other from Buenos Aires, Argentina, claimed that at first they thought they were in love relationships.
However, they claimed to have been tricked into performing sex acts over time by the men using a technique known as the "loverboy method," which Romanian prosecutors have explicitly mentioned.
They both claimed to have experienced assault, been made to carry out menial activities as a sign of allegiance, and been cut off from their friends.
The American woman, who the BBC identified only as Amanda, claimed to have donated up to 80% of her earnings—a total of $95,000—to two members of Tate's War Room organization.
She added that one of the "generals" had hit her across the face.
According to the BBC, the hacked chats indicate that War Room members think they are 'Pavlovian conditioning' the women they are purportedly targeting.
One message said: 'this is how you train dogs'.
The grooming techniques, which are often offered by "generals" and, apparently, in some cases, Andrew Tate himself, involve "tests of submission," such as having the War Room members' initials tattooed on a woman's body.
The British broadcaster claims that throughout its investigation, it spoke with a whistleblower named Eli who served as Tate's organization's two-year Head of Sales.
'The War Room is all about you getting women that serve you in your life,' he told investigators, admitting that he was 'brainwashed' by what he describes as a 'cult'.
Eli also called attention to Miles Sonkin, a.k.a. Iggy Semmelweiss, who has previously been referred to as Tate's "right hand man."
Sonkin, a self-described hypnotist or "wizard," goes by the name Iggy Semmelweis in honor of a 19th-century Hungarian physician.
He has reportedly served as the War Room's "second in command" in the past. Eli, though, asserts that "Iggy is at the top."
Sonkin, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, is said to have been a previous member of at least two reputed cults and became interested in the far-right in the 2000s, according to the BBC.
It's believed that he first spoke with Tate in 2018, just before the former kickboxer began marketing his own courses. In 2019, The War Room was established.
It is understood that Sonkin provides new War Room members a reading list and a manifesto outlining the group's beliefs and goals when they sign up for the organization.
Sonkin teaches members of the War Room group "tactics" in one of his messages to them, which was displayed by the BBC and was dated June 8, 2021.
He gives the members instructions on how to take advantage of a lady by "reducing attention and noting if she chases" as well as how to "set up a "coffee date" and carry out a move to find out if she is willing to pay for our coffee and serve us."
He continued, "After that it becomes a series of gradual steps to remove her entire support structure from her life," the BBC reported.
'Then we 'punish her for a transgression - real or imagined - by having her get our name tattooed on her, leaving her family's home/apartment/town/country, WebCamming/stripping/walking the track for us, getting us girls'.
He then said to 'escalate, escalate, escalate,' the message shows.
Sonkin is heard advising War Room members that "isolating her from her family, friends, and past is the kindest thing you can do for her if you are taking responsibility for having sole authority over her" in another message obtained by the BBC during its probe.
These techniques show the identical techniques used in messages from the organization that were leaked and posted on social media in July.
According to Rolling Stone, Tate himself detailed how he held one woman in the Bucharest facility after isolating her until she "lost her support networks at home" in one message.
'The real goal is for her to agree to never go anywhere without me. Not even her home town. I need her working,' he wrote, according to screenshots.
Tate allegedly informs followers in the message that he would be "making the play tonight."
'Since she moved [to Bucharest] she's been fed. But nothing else,' he wrote.
'She's broke. And she can't go home. And she can't leave the house. Man, I sound almost evil,' he added according to the leaked messages.
Despite the fact that he will soon face prosecution in Romania, he has more than 7 million Twitter followers and hordes of admirers, many of them are young guys who look up to him as a role model.
In the case, charges have been brought against Tate, his brother Tristan, and his two female associates, Luana Radu and Georgiana Naghel. The two women are allegedly involved in Tate and his brother's alleged illicit activities.
All four of them reject any wrongdoing.
In a statement to MailOnline, Tate's spokesperson said: 'Andrew has never engaged in any of the activities or behaviours described in the documentary and whilst he does encourage his supporters to consider joining The Real World and The War Room, he does not take an active leading role in these organisations.
'Andrew Tate is a public figure who, like anyone else, deserves fairness and due process when faced with allegations or criticism.
'It's important to remember that accusations should be substantiated with credible evidence, not circumstantial evidence, before passing judgement.
MailOnline has made an attempt to get in touch with Miles Sonkin through the War Room website, but the contact forms are inaccessible.
The brothers won an appeal earlier this month, allowing them to leave their residence after being placed under house arrest for months, but they must remain in the country.
Tate added, "Everyone who was pushing these lies and reporting things on repeat without any substantial evidence are going to have to analyse within themselves why they decide to try and destroy people's lives purely for views." Tate was speaking at the time outside his Bucharest house. 'I've done nothing wrong, God knows I've done nothing wrong, in my heart I know I've done nothing wrong. I think the people at home with a functioning brain understand we've done nothing wrong.'