4 hours ago
2
The self-styled “misogynist influencer” Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, both charged with human trafficking and other offences in Romania, have flown to the US after a travel ban was lifted.
Local authorities said prosecutors had approved a request from the brothers, who are dual British-US nationals, to travel. A Romanian court ruled in favour of an appeal from the Tates to lift a precautionary seizure on multiple assets, a representative for Andrew Tate said on Thursday.
Earlier this month the Financial Times reported that US officials had urged Romania to lift travel restrictions against the brothers.
Who is Andrew Tate?
The 38-year-old is the son of an American chess master, who also served in the US air force as a sergeant, and a British catering assistant. He was raised on an estate in Luton, a town in Bedfordshire just north of London. He leapt to fame in 2016 when he appeared on the UK version of the reality television show Big Brother, but he was removed after a video emerged that appeared to show him attacking a woman.
A former professional kickboxer, he has amassed more than 10 million followers on X and runs an online academy where he says he teaches young men how to get rich and attract women. He moved to Romania years ago after first starting a webcam business in the UK.
Tate’s views have been described by domestic abuse charities as extremely misogynist and capable of radicalising men and boys to commit harm offline. He has been banned from several social media platforms.
What have the Tates been accused of in Romania?
In 2022, the brothers were arrested along with two Romanian woman on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
In 2023, Romanian authorities formally charged the brothers, naming seven alleged victims. Prosecutors alleged Andrew raped at least once of them repeatedly and coerced the women through threats of violence and financial ruin. The brothers had been held under house arrest on and off since 2022 and were ordered to remain in the country awaiting trial.
In 2024, a second indictment was filed that mentioned 35 alleged victims of trafficking, including one who was 15 years old at the time.
In December, a court in Bucharest ruled that the case against the Tates and the two Romanian women could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors.
The brothers have denied all the allegations against them and say their wealth has made them targets. “I’m sure at the end we’ll be absolutely exonerated,” Andrew Tate told reporters in August last year.
What have the brothers been accused of in the UK?
The brothers are wanted by UK authorities, who filed an extradition request over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to 2012.
Last year, a warrant was granted to Bedfordshire police as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking. A Romanian court has ruled that proceedings in Romania must be concluded first.
Andrew Tate is also facing a separate civil action from four women who have alleged rape and coercive control between 2013 and 2016. In a joint statement on Thursday, the women said they felt “retraumatised” when they found out he had left Romania.
In 2024, a court ruled that more than £2m of the Tates’ frozen assets held in several frozen bank accounts would be forfeited under tax evasion laws. It is alleged they failed to pay a penny in tax on £21m of revenue between 2014 and 2022 from their online businesses.
The brothers deny all the UK allegations.
Why have they travelled to the US?
The brothers left Romania after local authorities said prosecutors there had approved a request to travel, though they remain “under judicial supervision” and would have to “appear before the judicial authorities at every summons”. The brothers are expected to return to Romania in March for a judicial control court hearing, according to local media.
The brothers are outspoken supporters of Donald Trump, and several members of the US president’s inner circle have spoken out publicly against their treatment, including Donald Trump Jr who described their detention as “absolute insanity”.
The Romanian foreign minister, Emil Hurezeanu, has said Richard Grenell, a special envoy for Trump, raised the case with him at the Munich Security Conference earlier in February but that this did not amount to pressure.
A Trump administration official said on Thursday they had “no insight right now on anything related to the Tate brothers”, when asked by reporters if there had been any involvement in their departure from Romania.
