WASHINGTON, DC (April 30, 2024) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is calling on the Sound of Freedom producer, Eduardo Verástegui, to disavow and publicly apologize for meeting with accused sex trafficker Andrew Tate. Verástegui met with Tate, posed with him for the camera, and re-tweeted Tate’s message disparaging the Romanian sex trafficking prosecution against him.
“It is abhorrent and an affront to victims and survivors of sex trafficking everywhere for the producer of a successful anti-sex trafficking film to meet with one of the world’s most infamous accused sex traffickers. Sound of Freedom producer Eduardo Verástegui has given legitimacy to accused rapist and human trafficker and self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate. This is inexcusable,” said Dawn Hawkins, CEO, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
In a Tweet with a picture of himself with Verástegui, Andrew Tate wrote, “When this obvious Matrix attack against me is over, we will fix REAL human trafficking,” which Verástegui re-tweeted.
“Human trafficking is not always someone from a foreign nation kidnapping innocent children. Instead, it is often charismatic, wealthy men who emotionally and physically abuse vulnerable women, grooming them into commercial sexual exploitation. Andrew Tate has openly bragged about running a pornography business where he scammed men consuming this material and lied to the women he controlled. That is a picture of modern-day sex trafficking. To end human trafficking, we need to stop consuming human beings through exploitive industries and stop excusing and idolizing violent, abusive men who prey on women.
“We call on Verástegui and the other producers of Sound of Freedom to disavow and apologize for this meeting with Tate, as Tate has already used the meeting as an opportunity to discredit his victims along with the Romanian and United Kingdom law enforcement agencies doing their jobs to investigate rape and human trafficking. Without a full disavowal, the Sound of Freedom legacy will be one of fraud and ignorance that has done harm to the anti-trafficking movement and to victims everywhere.”
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan stand accused of rape and human trafficking in Romania, where the court just ordered the case to go to trial. For the past year, Andrew Tate has waged a PR campaign against his victims, along with Romanian law enforcement agency attempting to enforce human rights and anti-trafficking laws. In March 2024, a Romanian Judge approved an extradition request from the United Kingdom regarding an ongoing rape and human trafficking investigation into the Tate brothers there.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center is available as a resource for anyone who has experienced sexual exploitation in connection to Andrew Tate or other facets of the commercial sex industry. The NCOSE Law Center has been fighting for justice for survivors who have experienced sex trafficking or abuse, and currently represents survivors of sexual exploitation in litigation against Twitter, Pornhub, XVideos, and XHamster. Click this link to contact the NCOSE Law Center.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-partisan organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography. https://endsexualexploitation.org/
