Getty imagesControversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan go to the United States after leaving Romania, where they face accusations of rape, trafficking and money laundering, which they all deny.
Questions remain on the reasons why they have been authorized to travel and what will then happen with their legal affairs.
Who are the Tate Andrew and Tristan brothers?
Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are two US-UK American citizens who claim to have made millions of people from their empire on social networks.
Their online production was controversial even before their legal problems, the pair frequently attracting criticism of offensive declarations to women.
The pair has an American father who worked for the US Air Force in Great Britain. Their parents met in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States.
After their parents divorced, their mother moved to Luton, England. The brothers spent time in the United Kingdom, where they built their first careers.
The United Kingdom police linked Andrew Tate to “fairly terrifying” radicalization of boys and young men in a 2024 report on violence against women and girls.
The brothers were arrested for the first time in Romania in 2022. They faced separate accusations and unrelated to rape and human trafficking in the United Kingdom. The two brothers also deny the accusations brought against them in the United Kingdom.
Why are the Tate brothers traveling to the United States?
The brothers were under a ban on traveling to Romania for more than two years when they were investigated.
The speculations according to which they left Romania had reinforced before their trip, after the couple were silent on social networks.
They left Bucharest airport around 3:00 am local time (05:00 GMT) on a private jet bound for Florida, sources told BBC.
The prosecutors said that the travel ban had been lifted and that the American passports of the pair had been sent to them, but the investigations on their alleged crimes were not abandoned and that they should return to Romania.
Tates have a large American part and are popular characters among certain elements of the American right.
Earlier in February, some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims said they were “extremely concerned” by information that US officials had asked that his travel restrictions be relaxed.
He came after the American special envoy Richard Grenell raised the Tate brothers with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Emil Hurezeanu, at the Munich Security Conference.
Hurezeanu said he had not considered Grenell’s approach as a “form of pressure”. Grenell told Financial Times that his support for the brothers was obvious.
The tates were vocal supporters of US President Donald Trump, while his nearby advisor, Elon Musk, restored Andrew Tate’s account on X after buying the social media platform in 2022.
What did Tates and Trump administration say about the trip?
Andrew and Tristan Tate have not yet commented on their trip to the United States, and the Trump administration either.
Will they have to return to Romania to deal with a trial?
Affairs against the Tate brothers in Romania are now rewritten by the prosecutors, who allowed them to leave the country provided they come back – perhaps from the end of March.
The couple’s request to leave the country has been accepted, prosecutors said, but their request for the abolition of the charges against them was rejected.
The brothers face a number of civil and criminal legal affairs.
The pair was accused of trafficking in human beings and rape as well as two Romanian suspects in June 2023. They deny the accusations.
They are faced with distinct and independent accusations of rape and trafficking in human beings in the United Kingdom. Last year, a Romanian court ruled They could be extradited to the United Kingdom After the end of their case in Romania.
A separate civil affair was opened against the tates in the United States.
In addition, the lawyers of four women who claim to have been attacked by the tates said they had brought a civil affair against him to the UK’s high court for “damages for the injuries they suffered”.
A representative of the Tate brothers said in response that they “deny unequivocally all the allegations”.
A distinct civil affair in the United Kingdom, which the brothers contest, accuses the brothers and a third individual of being Serial tax evaders.
What do the alleged victims of Tate say?
Four women who lighten up having been sexually mistreated by Andrew Tate said they were “incredulous and feel re-traumatic” by the news of him leaving Romania.
In a joint statement, the four said: “It is clear that he will no longer face criminal proceedings for his alleged crimes in Romania; he will use it as an opportunity to harass more and intimidate witnesses and its accusers, and he will continue to disseminate his violent misogynist doctrine in the world.”
They also urged the British authorities to “finally take measures, to do something for this terrifying situation and to ensure that he faces justice in the United Kingdom”.
Matthew Jury, a lawyer representing the four alleged victims, told the BBC that the Trump administration “interfered in a regular procedure” in Romania and the United Kingdom.
He added that he did not think that the Tate brothers “should never face justice in Romania now”.
