British-American influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate – who are facing trial in Romania on rape and trafficking charges – have arrived in the US after Romanian prosecutors lifted a two-year travel ban.
Andrew, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, have strongly denied the allegations against them. The two departed Bucharest on a private jet early on Thursday and arrived in Florida hours later, with Andrew telling reporters they are “misunderstood”.
Romanian prosecutors stressed the case against them had not been dropped and that they remain “under judicial control” – meaning they have to regularly report to authorities and are expected to return to Romania.
However their exit has sparked concerns that prosecutors felt political pressure from the Trump administration. The US president said he knew nothing about the Tate brothers being released from Romania.
The pair face charges of rape, trafficking minors and money laundering in Romania.
In the US they also face a civil case from a woman who alleges the brothers coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities.
The brothers also face separate charges in the UK of rape and human trafficking. They deny all the allegations against them.
Upon arrival, Andrew Tate told reporters: “We live in a democratic society where it’s innocent until proven guilty and I think my brother and I are largely misunderstood.”
“There’s a lot of opinions about us, a lot of things that got around about us on the internet,” he said, adding that they are “yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever”.
The brothers declined to answer questions about their release and Trump’s role in them being allowed into the US.
A lawyer for the Tate brothers, Joseph McBride, said they will return to Romania at the end of March to meet the prosecutor before returning to the US.
“They feel secure in America for several reasons, the primary one being that Donald Trump is the president. As a result, they are excited to call America their home again,” Mr McBride said in a statement.
Speaking in the White House after their plane landed, Trump said he knew nothing about the Tate brothers being released from Romania.
Asked if his administration pressured the Romanian government to release them, he said: “I know nothing about that. I don’t know, you’re saying he’s on a plane right now?”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was sitting next to Trump in the White House, said: “There’s an English element here, so obviously it’s important justice is done, and human trafficking is obviously, to my mind, a security risk.”
On Thursday, the brothers arrived at Fort Lauderdale in Florida around 11:00 local time (16:00 GMT) and were seen disembarking the aircraft.
Their arrival follows comments made by Trump administration figures earlier this month.
The Tates have regularly posted messages in support of Trump, and Tristan Tate has said his brother’s role in persuading “millions of young men” to back him “cannot be overlooked”.
Romania’s Foreign Minister has also told Romanian TV that Trump’s envoy for special missions had raised the brothers during a conversation at the Munich Security Conference in Germany a fortnight ago.
Emil Hurezeanu said his discussion with Richard Grenell had been informal and he did not consider the approach “a form of pressure”. Grenell told the Financial Times his support for the brothers was evident from his “publicly available tweets”.
However, women who have brought sexual abuse allegations against the Tate brothers said last week they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked Romania to relax travel restrictions for the men.
Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist who has attracted millions of followers online, despite being previously banned from social media platforms for expressing his views.
He and his brother were first arrested in Romania in December 2022, with Andrew accused of rape and human trafficking and Tristan suspected of human trafficking.
They both denied the charges and spent several months under house arrest. A year later, in August 2024, they faced new allegations including sex with a minor and trafficking underage persons, all of which they deny.
A former kickboxer who had appeared on UK TV show Big Brother, Andrew had moved from the UK to Romania several years ago. However police in Bedfordshire are still seeking his extradition on separate and unrelated allegations of rape and human trafficking, as well as tax evasion.
By BBC News
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