Andrew Tate: Bodyguard says 'Some girls thought they'd be his next wife'

Andrew Tate (left) and his brother Tristan outside a Bucharest court last week

Andrew Tate's head of security has given a dismissive account of the women who surrounded the controversial influencer, in spite of a police investigation into claims of sexual assault and exploitation against him. Tate denies all the allegations.

In an exclusive broadcast interview with the BBC, Bogdan Stancu said more than 100 women had passed through Mr Tate's compound in Bucharest, since he began work there two years ago.

The former police intelligence officer said he was sometimes asked to physically remove women from the Tate house for being "too drunk" or "making problems", but that no force was ever used.

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are currently in 30-day custody in Romania, while police investigate allegations of trafficking and rape.

The case has put a spotlight on the attitudes inside their Bucharest home, and the way women were treated there.

Mr Stancu says his boss's public persona is the opposite of his real character. But his own views about the models, girlfriends and other women in the Tate house are revealing.

Most of the women who spent time with the brothers in their compound were under 25, he said, and their expenses were paid for by Andrew Tate.

"Some of the girls misunderstood the reality and believed [they would] be his next wife," Mr Stancu told me. "When they realised the reality, it's easy to transform from a friend into an enemy, and make a statement to the police."

Bogdan Stancu's lack of faith in the women accusing Andrew Tate is in sharp contrast to the loyalty he feels for his employer.

"I never doubt Andrew," he told me.

And, as one of the millionaire's most senior staff, his explanation for doubting the testimony of Mr Tate's accusers is equally striking.

"They're young and stupid," he said.

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But, he added, it was right that the police investigated these serious allegations, and that if the Tate brothers were ultimately charged and convicted, they must pay for their crimes.

He also offered a glimpse into Andrew Tate's private anxieties, saying his boss believed "somebody wanted to hurt him".

It wasn't clear where Mr Tate believed the threat was coming from, he said.

Asked whether these concerns amounted to paranoia, the security chief said, "I would not say 'paranoid' but something similar maybe. He wanted to have a normal life and couldn't - maybe it's normal to be a little bit more paranoid."

Mr Stancu said the social media star could also be impulsive while travelling abroad, changing his schedule at the drop of a hat, and flying to different destinations at a moment's notice.

"[The security team] stayed inside the hotel with the baggage locked and without changing our clothes," he said, "because we knew anything could happen."

And he also confirmed that both Mr Tate and his brother Tristan had several children living in Romania, saying they sometimes went to visit them.

Investigators have been widening their inquiries over the past week.

On Saturday, they removed Mr Tate's fleet of luxury cars - the sight of his shiny dove-grey Porsche perched on the battered frame of a police tow-truck captured his shift in fortunes, from a millionaire internet personality to a key suspect in a human trafficking case.

Andrew Tate's luxury cars were towed away from his compound in Bucharest

Police last week expanded their investigation to seven more properties, including a villa owned by the Tates beneath the Carpathian Mountains in northern Romania.

In the town of Comarnic, two hours' drive further north, the Tate villa, raided by police on Thursday, towers over the houses around it. Small home-made sheds perch against the high walls that surround the property.

Neighbours here say the property was fully-renovated last year, and only completed a few months ago.

Beldica Trandafir lives in a worn housing block beside the main gate to the villa.

"The guy in charge of the construction asked me to work on the electrics, but when they explained what they wanted, I told them it was way beyond what I knew how to do," Mr Trandafir told me.

Inside, he said, the house has "all the amenities you can think of".

"It's extremely luxurious," he explained. "It's divided into flats, [and] they could afford to build a swimming pool - things that people like us couldn't even dare to dream of."

How Andrew Tate made his money is a key part of this investigation.

Police want to know whether he lured women to Romania with promises of a serious relationship or marriage, before forcing or manipulating them into working for him as models in adult entertainment chat rooms.

They are also looking into rape allegations made by one of the witnesses.

Investigators have confirmed that six women have been identified as potential victims. But last week, two of the women in the investigation publicly denied any mistreatment by the Tate brothers.

The women - who have tattoos reading "Property of Tate" and "Tate Girl" - worked in the compound in Bucharest, where Andrew Tate lived with his brother and the models who staffed his adult web-cam business.

The BBC has verified their identities with a member of Tate staff.

Speaking to Romania's Antena 1 TV channel, one of the women - identified as Beatrice - said she had been "good friends" with the Tate brothers for two years and had "Tate Girl" tattooed on her arm "out of respect for them".

The other woman - Jasmin - said she had never seen Mr Tate or his brother Tristan be "aggressive or rude".

"I was never threatened," Beatrice said. "If I was, I wouldn't be stupid enough to stay in that house.

"You can't describe me as a victim in the case file if I'm not a victim."

Describing the moment police first entered the compound in December, Beatrice said 20 police officers charged in and went upstairs to a bedroom where, she says, two other women had locked themselves inside the room in fear of the raid.

"They broke the door down. [The women] screamed," Beatrice said.

"But the police didn't see that the key to the bedroom was lying on the bed."

BBC News has spoken to others who have different memories of the raid.

No charges have yet been brought against the Tates - or the two Romanian women detained alongside them. But Mihaela Dragus, spokeswoman for Romania's National Anti-Trafficking Agency, says the case is already sending a strong message to both traffickers and victims.

In one of his social media videos, Andrew Tate explains why he moved to Romania in 2017.

"One of [my reasons] is the #MeToo era," he says. "People say: 'Oh you are a rapist'. No, I am not a rapist, but I like the idea of being able to do what I want, I like being free."

"If she goes to the [Romanian] police and says: 'He raped me yesterday', they'll say ok, do you have evidence? Is there CCTV proof?"

None of this is evidence that Mr Tate was involved in human trafficking or rape, but his assessment of Romania's attitude to sexual crimes is not wrong, says Laura Stefan, a legal expert and prominent anti-corruption campaigner working with the Expert Forum think tank.

"In a way, he's right," she told me. "Listening to him, the way he explained why he came here, I could relate to that; I thought he made a good calculation - unfortunately."

But she says things are changing.

"Romania has a serious problem with trafficking, and I think the Romanian authorities have come to understand that this has to be dealt with," she explained.

"That means not only investigating a handful of hotshots, but also working with the victims and providing them with support."

Last year, Romania made enough progress for the US Trafficking In Persons report to take it off their watchlist.

But the report also repeated concerns about Romanian officials themselves being involved in people trafficking.

This case, involving a controversial, high-profile personality with US-British citizenship, has put a fresh spotlight on how Romania handles allegations of organised crime and sexual exploitation.

There's huge public interest in this case.

And whatever the truth about life behind the high black gates of his compound, this case is a test for both the Romanian authorities and for the reputation of Andrew Tate.