The travel ban has been lifted on the controversial influencer brothers Andrew i Tristan Tate and they arrived in the United States, said their spokesman Mattia Petrescu, as reported by CNN.
The Tate brothers, who hold dual US and UK citizenship, were previously banned from leaving Romania after they were arrested in 2022 and charged with rape, human trafficking, money laundering and the establishment of an organized crime group. They deny all the allegations.
They were released, but until now they were forbidden to leave Romania, the BBC reports.
A statement from Romania's Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said the brothers were still under prosecutorial supervision and that, although they had been allowed to leave the country, they would have to return for questioning.
Pressure from America?
Romania's Antena 3 CNN reports that prosecutors last week approved the Tate brothers to travel to the United States.
Shortly before the Tate brothers left Romania, the country's Prime Minister Ion-Marcel Colaku and Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu insisted that the United States was not pressuring the Romanian authorities to release them.
Earlier, four women who claim that Andrew Tate sexually abused them called on the US not to interfere in this case in Romania, the BBC reports.
The women said they were "extremely concerned" by reports that US officials had asked Romania to ease travel restrictions against Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, who hold dual British-US citizenship.
"We are absolutely baffled as to why the Trump administration has decided to intervene in this way," Matthew Jury, a lawyer representing the four alleged victims, told the BBC.
"We are misunderstood"
Speaking to the media outside Florida International Airport after landing, Andrew Tate said: "I think my brother and I are largely misunderstood. There are a lot of opinions about us - all the things that are going on about us on the internet."
He added that "he should be innocent until proven guilty."
Ioan Gliga, their lawyer, told CNN earlier Thursday that the brothers had left Romania and flown to Florida.
"They no longer have a travel ban... The prosecutor, at the request of the lawyer, changed the content of the previously imposed obligations," said Gliga.
Petrescu, a spokesman for the brothers, would not comment on who paid for the flight or where the couple plans to travel next. The Financial Times reported on Washington's attempts to intervene in the case of the Tate brothers.
Who are the Tate brothers?
The Tate brothers enjoy wide support among conservative audiences in the United States.
They themselves supported Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.
Andrew Tate (38) is a former professional kickboxer and contestant on the British reality show Big Brother. He became popular on social media in the 2020s by promoting the idea that men should dominate women and advising them on how to "fly" women.
He described himself as misogynistic and right-wing, and one of the Tate brothers' YouTube channels was called The Hideous Tates.
Tate's social media accounts have been banned several times for violating the platforms' policies.
In August 2022, he was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram.
Tristan Tate is also a former kickboxer.
The Tate Brothers Case
Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested in Romania in December 2022.
In June 2023, they were accused of human trafficking, rape and the creation of an organized criminal group for the sexual exploitation of women.
In August 2024, these charges were expanded to include child abuse and sexual exploitation.
Andrew Tate was under house arrest from August 2024 to January 2025.
The Tate brothers are under investigation not only in Romania, but also in Great Britain, where they are accused of sexual assault and tax evasion.
Source: CNN/BBC/AP
