What he supposedly does to his "girlfriends" falls into the fraud and coercion categories of the international definition of sex trafficking.
"The crime of human trafficking consists of three core elements: the act, the means, the purpose. Physical and sexual abuse, blackmail,
emotional manipulation, and the removal of official documents are used by traffickers to control their victims."
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/crime.html
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"Definition of Trafficking in Persons
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), as amended (22 U.S.C. § 7102), defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as:
Sex trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age;..."
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Fraud includes false promises regarding employment, wages, working conditions,
love, marriage, or better life. Over time, there may be unexpected changes in work conditions, compensation or debt agreements, or nature of relationship."
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/fact-sheet/resource/fshumantrafficking
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We don't know what he did. But if he did as he says in some videos, it falls exactly under the international definitions of human trafficking. We don't know how lax Romanian laws are, but being part of EU I'd bet they don't differ too much.
And their agreement is mostly irrelevant if done under fraudulent circunstances.
"Victims are forced, defrauded, or coerced into trafficking. Even if victims initially offer consent, that consent is rendered meaningless by the actions of the traffickers to exploit them for labor, services, or commercial sex."
(From the link above.)
I know there is a wide range of opinions and assumptions in the thread, but I'm not talking about Vice, and didn't even read the interview. My commentary works under the premise that what Tate himself says in his video is true. His described modus operandi does characterize human trafficking as defined above. If it was just a stunt for views, then good luck to him because the self incrimination is damning.
Fully agreed.