Officials enter the Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER airplane parked on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok on May 22, 2024. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP via Getty Images)
(HONG KONG and LONDON) — Twenty passengers were being treated Wednesday in the intensive care units at two Bangkok hospitals after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence, hospital officials said.
One person died on Tuesday as Singapore Airlines flight SQ 321 encountered “severe” turbulence, the airline said in a social media post on Tuesday. The Boeing 777-300ER departed London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday with 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board, according to the airline.
At least 85 people had been admitted to three hospitals in Bangkok after the plane was diverted there, Bangkok hospital officials said in a statement released Wednesday. Another 19 were treated at a local clinic, officials said.
The airline had said late Tuesday night that four of the passengers were American. Two of them were injured.
Thirteen patients were still in the intensive care unit at Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, along with seven at Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital, officials said.
Thirty-six other passengers were being treated Wednesday at those two hospitals, along with another two at Bangkok Hospital, the statement said. By midday on Wednesday, 27 others had been discharged, the statement said.
Geoff Kitchen, a 73-year-old man from the U.K., died, according to authorities and a music theater group where he worked. Singapore Airlines offered its condolences to Kitchen’s family, saying in a statement on Tuesday, “Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft.”
The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said.
(LONDON) — One person died and dozens of others were left injured after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered “severe” turbulence, the airline said in a social media post.
The Boeing 777-300ER departed London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday with 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board, according to the airline.
The flight, SQ 321, encountered turbulence about 90 minutes from its destination of Singapore and was diverted to Bangkok, the carrier said.
Six people were critically injured, Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, said. Dozens of other passengers suffered minor or moderate injuries, he said.
Geoff Kitchen, a 73-year-old man from the U.K., died, according to authorities and a music theater group where he worked.
The U.K.-based Thornbury Musical Theatre Group said in a Facebook post, “Geoff was always a gentleman with the utmost honesty and integrity and always did what was right for the group. His commitment to TMTG was unquestionable and he has served the group and the local community of Thornbury for over 35 years, holding various offices within the group, including Chairman, Treasurer and most recently Secretary. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and the family at this difficult time, and we ask that you respect their privacy.”
Singapore Airlines offered its condolences to Kitchen’s family.
“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased,” the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to assist in the investigation.
“Suddenly, the aircraft starts tilting up, and there was shaking, so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop, so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,” Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on the flight, told ABC News. “Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it; they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it.”
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong addressed the SQ321 incident in a video.
“We are deeply saddened by this incident, and are committed to providing all necessary support and assistance to the passengers and crew members who were on board SQ321, as well as their families and loved ones. Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones of the passenger who passed away,” Phong said.
The airline said late Tuesday night that four of the passengers were American. Two of them were injured.
The aircraft appeared to have encountered the turbulence in Thai airspace, somewhere over the Andaman Sea.
The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said.
“We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them,” Boeing said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew.”
(NEW YORK) — The plight of multiple Americans charged with bringing ammunition to Turks and Caicos has drawn attention to the islands’ strict gun laws.
Those convicted under the firearms ordinance of possessing ammunition could face a minimum sentence of 12 years in prison — unless a judge grants them leniency for “exceptional circumstances,” Turks and Caicos officials said.
Several American tourists who recently traveled to the popular tropical destination have been charged after inadvertently bringing ammunition, according to a coalition of U.S. Congress members advocating on their behalf.
Here’s what to know about the law and cases.
Turks and Caicos’ strict gun laws
Turks and Caicos prohibits anyone from keeping, carrying, discharging or using an unlicensed firearm or ammunition. There is no constitutional right to carry firearms.
In the U.S., it is legal to fly with unloaded firearms and ammunition in checked baggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration. American tourists previously arrested in Turks and Caicos for possessing ammunition typically were briefly jailed and paid hefty fines before being able to return home.
The British Overseas Territory — which has its own legislature and government — has strengthened its firearms ordinance over the years. Most recently in 2022, it passed an amendment that mandates a minimum 12-year prison sentence for those convicted of breaking the law. The harsher penalty followed an increase in gun-related violence and weapons trafficking.
Turks and Caicos, where crime has been relatively low, saw a “marked increase” in homicides in 2020 and 2021 associated with “international crime, gangs, the availability of firearms, and drug dealing and trafficking,” according to the U.K. Government.
The amendment was one of 11 pieces of legislation the Turks and Caicos House of Assembly passed in November 2022 aimed at addressing rising crime and gang violence.
Since then, Turks and Caicos’ Supreme Court has only imposed fines in five cases where the judge found there to be “exceptional circumstances,” according to the islands’ attorney general. If the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, “the sentencing judge has discretion to impose a custodial sentence (less than the twelve years) and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case,” the attorney general said in a statement in April.
The Americans charged
In recent months, multiple Americans have been charged after ammunition was allegedly found in their luggage:
Michael Grim
The Indiana resident was arrested in August 2023 after one magazine containing 20 rounds of 9 mm ammunition was found in his luggage at Providenciales International Airport when it was screened during a security check, according to court documents.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight months in prison in September 2023 — with the court finding there was no criminal intent though “the need to send a message to travelers to the Turks and Caicos Islands to exercise caution when packing suitcases and to ensure that items of this nature are brought to the attention of airport officials.”
He was released in February.
Michael Lee Evans
The Texas septuagenarian was arrested in December 2023 after seven rounds of 9 mm ammunition was found in his luggage, police said. He pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition and is out on bail. He was allowed to return to the U.S. due to medical reasons, police previously said. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 18.
Bryan Hagerich
The Pennsylvania father of two was arrested in February while returning home from a family vacation after ammunition was found in his checked luggage. He pleaded guilty to possession of 20 rounds of ammunition. He told ABC News he forgot hunting ammunition was in his bag while he was traveling. His next hearing has been scheduled for Friday.
“We’re still steadfast in my goal to return home,” he told ABC News earlier in May.
He said he hopes the judge is lenient in the sentencing and that he doesn’t want to be separated from his family for 12 years.
“I’m a man of integrity, character,” he said. “I did not have intent in this.”
Ryan Tyler Watson
The Oklahoma resident was returning with his wife from a trip to Turks and Caicos to celebrate several friends’ 40th birthdays when he was arrested on April 12. Four rounds of ammunition were allegedly found in his carry-on bag at the Howard Hamilton International Airport, police said.
Watson has since been released on $15,000 bond but remains on the islands as his court case continues, separated from his wife and two children. His next hearing has been scheduled for June 7.
Watson, who is living with Hagerich amid the legal proceedings, told ABC News he didn’t know the hunting ammunition was in the bag.
“I stand behind Turks and Caicos and what they’re trying to accomplish to get out in front of their gun violence that they are experiencing on the island,” he said, though he added he doesn’t feel that putting those like himself and Hagerich “makes this island any safer.”
“We both just made a mistake,” he said.
Tyler Scott Wenrich
The Virginia resident traveled to Grand Turk on a cruise ship for a bachelor party in late April when ammunition was found in his possession while going through a security checkpoint, police said.
The 911 operator and emergency medical technician, who has a young child, has remained on the island since being arrested and pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of possession of ammunition, for two 9 mm rounds. The judge’s sentence is expected within seven days.
“I have a lot of fear and anxiety as to what’s going to happen and I’m hoping that the judge finds some compassion and leniency in the situation that I’m in,” Wenrich told ABC News.
Wenrich had gone shooting at a gun range with friends and said he forgot he was carrying the ammunition.
“I take a lot of responsibility for it because I have to,” he said, though noted that the ammunition was overlooked by several entities before being found.
“It could happen to anybody,” he said.
Defense attorney Sheena Mair said in court, in arguing for a more lenient sentence, “A mandatory minimum of 12 years in this case is not what Parliament intended with the firearm ordinance change in October 2022.”
“Tyler’s sentencing will not fix the gun issue in this jurisdiction,” she added.
Mair detailed past cases of Americans in which lesser sentences were imposed, including Grim, as well as American Dave O’Connor. O’Connor was found to have 44 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, but received a $5,670 fine and no sentence. In both cases, the Court of Appeals defended the finding of exceptional circumstances.
Sharitta Grier
The Florida resident was visiting Turks and Caicos with her daughter for Mother’s Day when, during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport on May 13, officials claim to have found two rounds of ammunition in her bag, police said.
She told Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV she had no idea that two rounds were in the bottom of her duffel bag.
Grier was charged with one count of possession of ammunition and released on $15,000 bail. She has been ordered to remain in the Caribbean territory until the completion of her case, police sources said.
A hearing has been scheduled for July 5. She has been living with Hagerich and Watson while her case proceeds.
“They are my forever family,” she said.
US response
The American Embassy in the Bahamas, the nearest embassy to the islands, issued an alert in April urging all travelers to Turks and Caicos to “carefully check your luggage for stray ammunition or forgotten weapons before departing from the United States.”
Firearms, ammunition (including stray bullets) and other weapons are not permitted in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI),” the alert stated. ” TCI authorities strictly enforce all firearms-and-ammunition-related laws. The penalty for traveling to TCI with a firearm, ammunition, or other weapon can result in a minimum custodial sentence of twelve (12) years.”
The alert said that TSA screening in the U.S. may not identify ammunition in your baggage and it is “your responsibility to ensure your baggage is free of ammunition and/or firearms.”
U.S. officials have been pressuring the Turks and Caicos government to release their constituents.
In mid-May, the governors of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Virginia sent a joint letter to Turks and Caicos Gov. Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam to release Watson, Hagerich and Wenrich.
“This action will create the necessary recognition of your laws that will impact the future actions of travelers and continue our mutual interest in justice and goodwill between our jurisdictions,” the letter read.
A bipartisan congressional delegation traveled to Turks and Caicos this week to address the fate of the five Americans charged.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, one of the members of the delegation, told “Good Morning America” that he left the meetings feeling like they “didn’t find a real path forward” and are considering next steps if they can’t reach a solution.
“We thought we could find some type of common ground to separate the two — ones with the intent and one with no criminal intent,” Mullin said. “We weren’t able to get to that conclusion. So their whole point was that, let the system work.”
Mullin said the next step might be warning American citizens about traveling and doing business in Turks and Caicos.
“I don’t think we’re to that point. But if we can’t come to a solution, that’s the next option for us,” he said.
Turks and Caicos’ response
The Turks and Caicos attorney general has said the firearms ordinance applies to all those on the islands, “regardless of status or origin.”
Following the meeting with the congressional delegation, the Turks and Caicos governor’s office said in a statement that the government has “clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties are in place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands.”
The office said the government officials “appreciated that the circumstances for U.S. nationals who find themselves in this position can be difficult but were aware that U.S. officials are providing consular support to each of the individuals.”
“Where the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, the sentencing judge does have discretion, under the law, to impose a custodial sentence and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case,” the governor’s office added.
ABC News’ Stefan Joyce contributed to this report.
Palestinians look at the rubble of a family house that was hit overnight in Israeli bombardment in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah in southern Gaza on May 20, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. (AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, renewed negotiations are underway to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, as Israeli forces continue to prepare for an apparent invasion of the southern Gazan town of Rafah.
Here’s how the news is developing:
May 22, 6:09 AM Three European countries to recognize Palestinian state
Ireland, Norway and Spain said Wednesday they would recognize a Palestinian state.
“Ireland today recognises Palestine as a nation among nations with all the rights and responsibilities that entails,” Simon Harris, the country’s Taoiseach, or prime minister, said in a statement.
The recognition by the Norwegian Government is an effort to “keep alive” the possibility of a “political solution” that might end the war in Gaza, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a statement.
“Two states, living side by side, in peace and security,” Støre said.
The announcement drew sharp criticism from Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, who said he’d been instructed to immediately recall Israel’s ambassador’s to Ireland and Norway “for consultations.”
“Today’s decision sends a message to the Palestinians and the world: Terrorism pays,” Katz said. “After the Hamas terror organization carried out the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, after committing heinous sexual crimes witnessed by the world, these countries chose to reward Hamas and Iran by recognizing a Palestinian state.”
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said his country will recognize a Palestinian state on May 28.
“Time has come to move from words into action,” he said on social media. “Peace, justice and coherence are the basis of our historic decision.”
May 21, 6:19 PM Kamal Adwan Hospital suffers damage after hit four times: WHO
Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza was reportedly hit four times Tuesday, according to the World Health Organization.
The attacks damaged the intensive care unit, reception, administration and the roof, the organization said. Efforts are underway to evacuate 20 health staff and 13 patients who remain inside, according to WHO.
“We appeal once again for [the] protection of all patients and health workers. We urge for a ceasefire and safe, sustained humanitarian access,” WHO said in a statement.
Over the past few weeks, intense hostilities have reportedly occurred in the vicinity of the hospital and resulted in an increased influx of injured patients to the already overstretched facility.
Kamal Adwan is the largest partially functional hospital in northern Gaza, and the only one providing hemodialysis services.
Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder holds a press conference at the Pentagon on Oct. 31, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The United States has assessed that Russia launched what is likely a counter space weapon last week that’s now in the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed Tuesday.
“What I’m tracking here is on May 16, as you highlighted, Russia launched a satellite into low Earth orbit that we that we assess is likely a counter space weapon presumably capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit,” Ryder said when questioned by ABC News about the information, which was made public earlier Tuesday by Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
“Russia deployed this new counter space weapon into the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite,” Ryder continued. “And so assessments further indicate characteristics resembling previously deployed counter space payloads from 2019 and 2022.”
“Obviously, that’s something that we’ll continue to monitor,” Ryder added. “Certainly, we would say that we have a responsibility to be ready to protect and defend the space domain and ensure continuous and uninterrupted support to the joint and combined force. And we’ll continue to balance the need to protect our interests in space with our desire to preserve a stable and sustainable space environment.”
When asked if the Russian counter space weapon posed a threat to the U.S. satellite, Ryder responded: “Well, it’s a counter space weapon in the same orbit as a U.S. government satellite.”
While there are requirements for making advance air and sea notifications for space launches, Ryder wouldn’t discuss whether the U.S. knew in advance that the launch contained a particular type of counter-space weapon.
The surveillance video of Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie, which was exclusively obtained by CNN and released Friday,has the attention of many and has led to Peloton deciding to stop playing his music in its classes.
Responding to a comment that read, “Dear Peloton, Your next purge needs to be all Diddy classes. Signed, women everywhere,” Peloton issued the following statement: “We take this issue very seriously and can confirm Peloton has paused the use of Sean Combs’ music, as well as removed the Bad Boy Entertainment Artist Series, on our platform.”‘
“This means our instructors are no longer using his music in any newly produced classes,” the company further explained. “Again, thank you for sharing your concerns and thank you for being a member of our Peloton community.”
Peloton is not the only one bothered by Diddy’s behavior in the video. Shyne, a former Bad Boy turned politician, issued a statement denouncing “the repugnant behavior of Sean Diddy Combs captured on the video in which he is seen physically assaulting Mrs. Cassie Ventura-Fine.”
“There is no place for Violence against Women anywhere on the planet. As a father of a precious daughter, a global citizen and the next Prime Minister of Belize I want absolutely nothing to do with people who engage in this pattern of diabolical behavior,” he wrote.
In her own statement, Misa Hylton, the mother of Diddy’s son Justin Combs, said she’s “heartbroken that Cassie must relive the horror of her abuse, and my heart goes out to her.”
“I know exactly how she feels, and through my empathy, it has triggered my own trauma,” she added, noting that she and the mother of Diddy’s other kids have been focused on supporting their children’s needs.
She said she’s praying that Diddy “does the personal work and receives it.”
(LONDON) — He claims to be the pinnacle of masculinity. Andrew Tate — “Top G.”
The former kickboxer in the last four years has flooded social media, taking over newsfeeds, in particular those of young men, preaching views that have brought him the title of the so-called “King of Toxic Masculinity. He revels in controversy, claiming men “own” women in relationships and that women’s empowerment is leading to the fall of Western civilization.
“Humanity cannot survive with female empowerment,” he has said.
“The only happy relationship that can possibly exist is with a man leading and a man in charge. Any other relationship is always misery,” he has also said.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, Tate has built up an enormous following online, despite being banned in 2022 from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for violating their “hate speech” rules. For millions of men, and especially teenage boys, he has become an idol. In the United States, some far right conservatives — such as Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens — have given him a platform to talk about himself as a champion for traditional views on men in the culture war raging over gender.
But Tate is now facing three legal cases in two countries, all based around allegations of abusing women.
In Romania, where Tate has made his home for several years, he and his younger brother, Tristan, are awaiting trial on human trafficking and organized crime charges, accused of exploiting seven women. Andrew is also charged with rape. The Tate brothers are also facing possible criminal charges in the U.K., where police have issued arrest warrants on allegations of human trafficking and sexual assault. Four different British women have also served Andrew Tate with a civil lawsuit in the UK on allegations of sexual assault.
At the heart of the legal battles, the question: Is the so-called “King of Toxic Masculinity” guilty of abusing women.
The Tates have denied all the allegations against them in both countries, arguing he is the victim of opportunistic women and what he dubs the “Matrix,” a supposed establishment conspiracy that he claims is targeting him because of his controversial views.
For more than a year, ImpactxNightline has reported on Tate, investigating the allegations against him and exploring the broader so-called “Manosphere” he is part of, hearing accounts from some of the women who accuse him of abuse and speaking with a former employee of his War Room organization, trying to understand his appeal to young men, as well as what it says about the discussion around masculinity.
Allegations against the Tates in Romania
Andrew and Tristan Tate live in a compound on the outskirts of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. The compound, that from outside looks like a warehouse with steel shutters and bristles with cameras, is located on a dusty backroad out by the airport, sitting opposite a rundown apartment block.
In December 2022, heavily armed officers from Romania’s organized crime police stormed the compound. The Tates were arrested on charges of human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group. Andrew was charged with rape. For nearly three months, the brothers were held in a Bucharest jail, until a court changed their detention to house arrest at the compound. Last August, a court eased the restrictions again, permitting the Tates to travel within Romania but not to leave the country, while they await trial.
The Tates have denied the Romanian charges and challenged evidence in the case. In late April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled a trial should proceed, though a date has yet to be set as the Tates are again appealing that decision.
Romanian prosecutors have charged the Tates, along with two female defendants, of sexually exploiting seven women as models for an erotic webcam business. The prosecution alleges the Tates recruited the women under false pretenses by pretending they were in love with them, and then coercing them through a mixture of intimidation and emotional manipulation into working while the Tates and their associates took most of the earnings.
Central to the case are allegations involving three women — one American, one Moldovan and one British — whom the Tates are accused of luring to Romania and exploiting them on webcam. Prosecutors also allege the Tates recruited four women inside Romania also by deceiving them into believing they were in a relationship.
The Tates have denied the Romanian charges, insisting the women all chose to work for them willingly and that the prosecutors’ allegations are based on lies.
“They’ve told the whole world I’m a human trafficker. You’re expecting to see dungeons, and chains, and girls who are crying,” Tristan Tate told ABC News following a court hearing last May. “Like, you’ll laugh. I’d cry if I didn’t laugh about this, literally.”
Prosecutors accuse the Tates of employing a human trafficking tactic that recruits women through deception, rather than crude violence, and that anti-trafficking experts say is well-known in Romania. The tactic is commonly called the “Lover Boy Method.”
“This is a method that is very subversive because it plays with the minds and the hearts of young girls or young women,” Madalina Turza, who until last year oversaw Romania’s national anti-trafficking strategy, told ABC News in April. She now heads the Romanian office of the anti-slavery charity Justice and Care.
Traffickers will target a woman by pretending to be in love with her, according to Turza. They convince the victim they are in a real relationship, persuading them to move away from family and friends, often abroad. Then the exploitation begins, with the trafficker pressuring the victim into various forms of forced labor, often sex work.
Rares Stan, who until April was the lead prosecutor in the Tates’ case, is known in Romania for prosecuting some of the country’s most high-profile organized crime cases.
Stan said he had left the Tates’ case after handing it on to trial prosecutors, in order to take on a new position at Romania’s attorney general’s office. Speaking in his first interview with international media on the Tate case, Stan told Impact it was “exactly like any other case of human trafficking.”
Romania has one of the highest number of human trafficking victims per capita in Europe, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons report. Stan says he has prosecuted hundreds of trafficking cases.
“The unusual thing about this case was the major public interest,” he said. “Because of the people involved.”
The Tates have denied the allegation that they used the “Lover Boy Method.”
But prosecutors have pointed to the fact that for years Tate sold a course online that several experts in human trafficking say taught tactics that closely resemble it: Tate’s “PhD Program” or “Pimping Hoes Degree,” as he’s called it.
Posted as video tutorials, the program’s stated goal is to teach men how to seduce women and then how to monetize them by moving them into working as webcam models.
Silvia Tabusca, a legal expert in human trafficking and organized crime has studied the “Lover Boy Method” worldwide and has focused recently on the Tates case.
“For me, all the ‘Lover Boy’ trafficking methods are present in his Ph.D. program,’ Tabusca, who is based in Bucharest, told Impact.
Tabusca points to an advertisement for the “PhD” course on Tate’s website now taken down, but that she has archived.
“My job was to meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, test if she’s quality, get her to fall in love with me to where she’d do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together,” the advertisement reads.
In another video, Tate also refers to the “PhD” course as “my recruitment system” and tells men that it is impossible to have a women work for you without having sex with her.
“You can’t get the girl to work for you if you haven’t f—– her before,” Tate says in the video.
Eugene Vidineac, the Tates’ attorney for the Romanian case, told ABC News, he was not aware of all Andrew’s comments on social media, and that prosecutors need more than public statements as evidence, arguing Tate was playing a character online.
“I don’t know how stupid you can be to commit criminal thefts and to go out in public and to say how you committed the crimes, and not expect yourself to be taken [by] the authorities,” said Vidineac, adding it didn’t make sense since “Andrew Tate is so smart. And we see that he has the ability of communication and he is charming.”
Vidineac also points to two women named in the case, Beatrice and Iasmina, who have said on social media and in an interview with Romanian television that they are not victims.
Prosecutors in the indictment allege the two women are still under the control of the Tates. Several human-trafficking experts also said it is common in “Lover Boy” cases that victims refuse to accept they have been exploited.
“They are so much manipulated by their traffickers that they don’t realize that they are trapped into a slavery chain,” said Turza.
Romanian prosecutors have also included in the 481-page indictment as evidence hundreds of WhatsApp and other messages they say are between the Tates and some of the women.
Among them are dozens of messages said to be between the Moldovan woman and Andrew Tate, that appear to show him first persuading her to move to Romania, saying he wants a serious relationship. In one set of messages, she explicitly says before moving she doesn’t want to do webcam.
“I DON’T WANT TO DO VIDEOCHAT,” she wrote on Feb. 9, 2022, according to the indictment.
Andrew Tate replied, “I do NOT want this / and I will never ask you,” according to the indictment.
In the messages the Tates can also be seen allegedly telling some of the women never to go out of the house unaccompanied.
“I own you,” Tate wrote on March 11, 2022, according to the indictment. “You’ll never be around real men again. you’ll never go out alone again. Never”.
According to the indictment, Andrew Tate is charged with raping the Moldovan woman the same month in a hotel room, where, she alleged to prosecutors, he pressured her into having sexual intercourse with him and two of the other women working for him. Tate is charged with raping the woman a second time later that month.
Another British woman in the case alleges that during sexual intercourse Tate began “choking her until she lost consciousness,” according to the indictment. Prosecutors used the alleged incident as an example of how Tate allegedly established psychological control through intimidation.
A spokesperson for the Tates in a statement this month said Andrew “vehemently denies any involvement in criminal activities such as rape or physical abuse. Andrew Tate remains focused on the legal proceedings in Romania and is collaborating closely with his legal team to assert his innocence.”
Allegations in the United Kingdom
Born in the United States, Andrew and Tristan Tate were raised after their parents’ divorce by their mother in Luton, a small city 30 miles north of London and one of the poorest cities in Britain.
In the years before he would become famous as a controversial male influencer, Andrew Tate’s kickboxing career was successful, but the financial rewards were modest. Back in Luton in the early 2010s, as he has described on numerous podcasts, he decided to set up a webcam business there and would use his girlfriends as models.
Four British women are now alleging Andrew Tate sexually assaulted them during this period. The women are now pursuing a civil lawsuit at the U.K.’s High Court against Tate on the allegations, which he denies.
He is now also facing another separate criminal case in the U.K., after local British police recently issued an arrest warrant for the Tates on allegations of human trafficking and sexual assault.
In March, a Romanian court approved the extradition of the Tates to the U.K., pending the conclusion of the Romanian case.
Tate through a spokesperson denied the allegations in both U.K. cases, accusing the women of lying and of seeking to take advantage of the notoriety brought by the Romanian case.
Two of the women, whom ABC News is calling Helen and Sally, have told Impact they worked as models in the early days of Tate’s U.K. webcam business in 2014. The women requested ABC News not use their real names out of fear they may face harassment from Tate’s fans.
A third woman, who ABC News is calling Amelia, accuses Tate of sexually assaulting her and raping her during a relationship in 2013. Amelia, who also asked not to be named out of fear of retribution from Tate’s fans, filed a complaint with police from Britain’s Hertfordshire County in 2014 after ending the relationship. She said she provided police with voice messages and WhatsApp message she says she received from Tate around the time.
In one of the voice messages, which ABC News has heard, a voice that appears to be Tate can be heard saying: “Are you seriously so offended I strangled you a little bit? You didn’t f—— pass out. Chill the f— out. Jesus Christ. I thought you were cool. What’s wrong with you?”
In another WhatsApp message seen by ABC News, Tate allegedly wrote: “I love raping you. And watching u let me while still debating if its a good idea or not. I like the conflict you have. And you do have it. Don’t deny it.”
The woman replied: “Makes you feel powerful?”
Tate allegedly wrote back: No. I’m already powerful. Its honest. Its real.”
A spokeswoman for Tate declined to comment on the messages. The spokesperson did not comment separately on the women’s allegations, but said Tate denies all of the allegations.
After Amelia filed her complaint, police initially took little action. Then a year later, Helen and Sally separately went to Hertfordshire police and filed a complaint alleging rape and assault.
Following the new complaints, in July 2015, Hertfordshire police arrested Tate in relation to an allegation of assault and rape, according to the police force. He was arrested again in December on suspicion of rape, and was released shortly after.
Hertfordshire police investigated the allegations against Tate for four years, before finally forwarding the case to Britain’s prosecutor’s office, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). But in 2019, the CPS closed the case after determining there was no realistic prospect of conviction.
The women allege that decision was wrong and accuse the police of mishandling the case, saying in interviews that the police failed to initially take the allegations sufficiently seriously.
In May, lawyers for Helen, Sally and Amelia served Tate with the civil lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages from him. They also called for police to reopen the case.
“The evidence that was gathered at the time we say was more than sufficient for a criminal prosecution to have taken place,” Matthew Jury, the lead attorney representing the women, told Impact. “It is baffling to us as to why the decision was made not to prosecute in 2019.”
Asked about the women’s case, Hertfordshire police in a statement said “there were some delays to the investigation. This was addressed at the time and apologies were made.”
“The case was only closed in late 2019 after a case file had been sent to the CPS and the decision was made not to prosecute,” it said.
The CPS in a statement told ABC News: “We understand the devastating impact rape can have on victims. In this case, a specialist prosecutor carefully reviewed all the evidence and concluded there wasn’t a realistic prospect of conviction.”
The CPS noted that it and the police have “changed the way rape cases are handled as part of our commitment to drive up the numbers taken to court and improve victim experiences.” It also noted that the women still have the option to request a review of the decision not to prosecute.
A spokesperson for Tate commenting on the allegations told Impact: “Andrew vehemently denies any involvement in criminal activities such as rape or physical abuse. These accusations are not only baseless but are seen as deliberate attempts to defame his character and provoke unwarranted public outrage through mainstream media channels.”
Since the first three women announced their lawsuit, a fourth British woman has come forward and joined the suit with her own allegations of sexual assault. Evie, who has also requested ABC News not use her real name, said she first met Tate in 2014 at a club in Luton.
She said she went home with Tate and had consensual sex. But Evie said they kept in touch via text message and met up again a couple months later, when Tate came over to her place one night after work. The two started having consensual sex but he then allegedly began strangling her during the act, she said.
“We were having sex and he strangled me until I passed out,” Evie told Impact. “When I came back around, he was still having sex with me while I’d been passed out.”
Evie said she had not given consent to the alleged act. She said Tate also made aggressive comments and threats toward her during and afterward.
“He sort of kept saying things like: ‘I own you. You’re mine,'” she said. “He was quite aggressive and kept on, like, holding me against the wall by the neck.”
Evie said the alleged strangulation caused the blood vessels in one of her eyes to burst, temporarily leaving it bloodshot.
Evie, now 30, said she told others about the alleged incident at the time and again over the years but downplayed it. She said she started to realize how serious it was as she got older and learned more about consent. The people Evie told have since confirmed being told about parts of the incident, with one confirming seeing that her eye was bloodshot afterward.
“I didn’t really have any kind of education on consent and kind of what that looked like,” Evie told ABC News. “It was only, like, years later that I looked back and thought, actually that was rape.”
When asked to comment on Evie’s allegations, a spokesperson for Tate told ABC News, Andrew “vehemently denies these accusations and does not condone violence of any kind towards women. All sexual acts that Andrew has partaken in have been consensual and agreed upon before by both parties.”
“He is saddened that a few opportunistic women who he has allegedly spent time with nearly a decade ago have decided to try and take advantage of his current situation.”
Evie joined the other women’s lawsuit in 2023. She has said she had decided to join now because she wanted “justice.”
“For all the, kinda the crimes that he’s done against women. And also to just teach young men that it’s not okay– and young women as well– that it’s not okay to, like, have these views and to treat women like this,” she said.
Romanian prosecutors in their indictment against the Tates have cited two of the women’s police complaints in the U.K. as relevant background to the current case there.
Amid the allegations, in March this year local police from Bedfordshire County in the U.K. issued arrest warrants for both Andrew and Tristian Tate in a new criminal case on allegations of human trafficking and rape. The Tates have said they deny all the new charges. A Bucharest court approved a U.K. extradition request for the Tates, but only once the Romanian case against them concludes.
A trial is likely to take years to begin in court, but could begin as early as this summer.
“Whatever happens in the Romanian prosecution, he is now going to be extradited from Romania to face prosecution also in the U.K.,” Jury said. “So, the civil case aside, he’s got a long many years ahead of him.”
This story includes reporting from ABC News’ ImpactxNightline special “Andrew Tate – Into the Manosphere,” which is available to stream on Hulu from May 16.
The hour-long special includes interviews with some of the women accusing Tate of sexual assault, as well as with a former employee of Tate’s War Room organization.
(LONDON) — One person is dead and dozens others injured after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered “severe” turbulence, the airline said in a social media post.
The Boeing 777-300ER departed London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday with 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board, according the airline.
The flight, SQ 321, encountered turbulence about 90 minutes from its destination of Singapore and was diverted to Bangkok, the carrier said.
A 73-year-old man from Great Britain was killed, according to Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager for Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Seven people were critically injured, Kittikachorn added, while dozens suffered minor or moderate injuries.
“Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling,” Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on the flight, told ABC News. “Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it; they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it.”
Singapore Airlines confirmed one person had died and sent condolences to the family.
“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased,” the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft.”
The aircraft appeared to have encountered the turbulence in Thai airspace, somewhere over the Andaman Sea.
The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said.
“We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them,” Boeing said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Will Gretsky and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — A plan by an International Criminal Court prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is “absurd,” casting a “terrible stain” on the court, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
“We are supplying now nearly half of the water of Gaza. We supplied only 7% before the war. This is completely opposite of what he’s saying. He’s saying we’re starving people?” Netanyahu said on ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday. “We have supplied half million tons of food and medicine with 20,000 trucks. This guy is out to demonize Israel. He’s doing a hit job.”
A prosecutor with the ICC on Monday said he would file applications for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, alleging that they “bear criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Gaza.
Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said he would seek warrants for both Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. Khan laid out a list of allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant, including starvation of civilians, willfully causing great suffering and other “inhumane acts.”
“We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy,” Khan said in a statement. “These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.”
Netanyahu said on Monday that his country didn’t have a “deliberate starvation policy” and the charges detailed by the ICC prosecutor were “fallacious.”
“In fact, we have the opposite policy, to allow maximum humanitarian aid to get people out of harm’s way,” He said, “while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm’s way at gun point.”
World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain recently said that “full-blown famine” is occurring in northern Gaza.
President Joe Biden called the prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders “outrageous.”
“And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said Monday.
The prosecutor’s statement came as Israel continued weighing a potential full-scale invasion into Rafah, a southern Gazan city where many Palestinians have sought refuge during Israel’s war with Hamas.
“The battle in Rafah is critical. It is not only the remaining [Hamas] battalions there but their escape and supply pipelines,” Netanyahu said last week while speaking to troops after taking an aerial tour of the Gaza Strip. “This battle, of which you are an integral part, is a battle that will decide many things in this campaign.”
Netanyahu early this month met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for more than two hours in the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem. Blinken during that meeting “reiterated the United States’ clear position on Rafah,” Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said at the time.
U.S. officials have in the weeks since that meeting been in “close communication” with Israeli leaders, letting them know that the U.S. opposes a major military operation in the city, Miller said on Monday.
“We don’t think that would be productive to Israel’s security either in the short term or the long term,” Miller said, “and we think it would have a dramatic impact on the lives of the Palestinian people there and on the ability to get humanitarian assistance in.”
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7 in the Hamas cross-border attack on southern Israel, according to Israel.
ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Monday asked what would happen when the war was over.
Netanyahu said Hamas would have to be destroyed first, then Israel could “demilitarize” Gaza. After that, there would have to be a civilian administration put in place, he said.
“There is peace and stability and prosperity only through victory,” Netanyahu said. “The road to peace goes through victory over Hamas.”
(LONDON) — One person was dead and several others injured after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered “severe” turbulence about 90 minutes from the plane’s destination of Singapore, the airline said in a social media post.
There were 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board the Boeing 777-300ER, which departed London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday, according to the airline. The flight, SQ 321, was diverted to Bangkok, Thailand, the carrier said.
“Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased,” the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. “Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft.”
The aircraft appeared to have encountered the turbulence somewhere over the Andaman Sea.
The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said.
