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Right-wing influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have landed in the US after prosecutors lifted restrictions that barred them from leaving Romania, where they were being held on charges including sexual exploitation.
Local TV images showed the brothers, who are dual US and UK nationals, disembarking from a private jet at Fort Lauderdale airport near Miami, Florida on Thursday.
The pair had been detained in Romania since 2022 on charges of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, money laundering and operating an organised crime group. They have denied wrongdoing.
“My brother and I are largely misunderstood,” Andrew Tate told reporters at the airport. “We have yet to be convicted of any crimes in our lives, ever.”
The surprise decision by Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions on the self-described misogynist influencers came after US pressure that was first reported by the Financial Times, with high-ranking officials in Washington pushing Romanian authorities to lift restrictions on the brothers.
Romanian authorities on Thursday said they had “modified” the ban on the defendants leaving Romania, but prosecutors said the criminal prosecution against the pair continued. The UK has also been seeking to extradite them.
The Romanian authorities allowed the brothers to leave on condition that they return next month to report to a local police station, but people familiar with the matter could not say whether they would comply.
When asked if the US pressured the Romanian government to release the Tate brothers, President Donald Trump said “I know nothing about that” and that the White House would “check it out”.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office for a bilateral meeting, acknowledging Britain’s involvement in the situation, said justice must be served.
“There’s an English element here, so obviously it’s important that justice is done, and human trafficking is obviously, to my mind, a security risk. And so we’ll catch up with the story,” Starmer said.
A court in Bucharest on Thursday ruled to unfreeze the brothers’ bank accounts and return their properties and luxury cars, which had been seized as part of the proceedings against them. Some assets still remain “under precautionary seizure”, their legal team said.
Romania’s foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu told the Financial Times on Thursday that he had “no information whatsoever about the release” of the brothers, nor “information about US requests or inquiries”.
The Tates’ detention in Romania has attracted significant interest in the US, where it has been championed by right-wing social media personalities, with figures such as former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, a leading Trump supporter, conducting sympathetic interviews.
Florida state prosecutors said they were launching an investigation into the brothers.
“Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women. If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable,” said state attorney-general James Uthmeier.
Andrew Tate has built a following of several millions on online platforms targeted at young men that promote the idea of male superiority and reject feminism. He moved to Romania in 2017, claiming that the country’s legal system was more permissive in regards to personal freedoms than in the west.
The UK extradition request came after police obtained a European arrest warrant in March 2024 as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking. Police in Bedfordshire who are leading that investigation said on Thursday they were working with the Romanian authorities as part of an ongoing probe, but had no further comment.
A group of four British alleged victims of Tate issued a joint statement saying they were “in disbelief and feel re-traumatised by the news that the Romanian authorities have given into pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate” to travel to the US.
“It is clear that there is now a major risk that the criminal prosecution for his alleged crimes in Romania will not proceed,” they added.
Matthew Jury, alleged victims’ solicitor at McCue Jury & Partners, called on UK authorities to take “immediate steps to secure their extradition to the UK” to face charges.
Additional reporting by Suzi Ring and Peter Andringa in London
