Right-wing influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate are under investigation in Romania, including human trafficking, but have arrived in the US after authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed on the pair as part of the case.
The dual UK and US citizenship brothers left Romanian capital Bucharest on a Florida-bound private jet Thursday morning after Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT said it had approved a request to “amend” the travel ban.
Romanian prosecutors detained former kickboxer Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, in 2022, and founded criminal organizations in Romania and the UK in 2021, blocking human trafficking, trafficking of minors and sexual consultations with minors and money laundering. They deny all allegations.
Diicot said in a statement that Tates remained “under judicial supervision” and still had to respond to subpoena from the judicial authorities.
According to brother spokesman Mateea Petrescu, the Bucharest court also ruled that it upheld Tates’ appeal to lift the seizure of multiple assets.
Assets include six luxury cars, land and real estate, and stock in the company. Previously, all frozen bank accounts weren’t frozen, she said.
“While some assets remain under precautions, this control marks an important step towards justice,” she said.
Tates’ arrival in the United States comes after Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Frezianu said his brother was mentioned at a brief hallway meeting with President Donald Trump’s envoy, President Richard Grenell, at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
He denied that the Financial Times faced pressure to lift Tates’ travel ban after citing sources claiming Trump administration members had pushed Bucharest to remove restrictions.
Cristi Danilet, a former judge in Cluj, the northern city of Romania, said the bilateral agreement on lifting “precautions” is unprecedented.
“If that’s true, it means there’s no more rule of law or sovereign nations,” he said.
“Major risks”
Romanian authorities formally indicted Tates last year along with two Romanian women. All four deny the allegations.
The first criminal case failed in December, when the Bucharest Court of Appeals decided not to start trial and decided to send the file back to the prosecutor citing the flaws in the charges.
In April, another court, Bucharest Court, ruled that the trial could begin but did not set a date.
Tates is under judicial control as the completion of an ongoing criminal investigation is pending. This is a light precaution that requires you to check in with the police regularly.
A British arrest warrant for alleged sexual assault between 2012 and 2015 was also issued for Tates, which is scheduled to be handed over after Romanian court proceedings.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the four British women who brought the allegations expressed “distrust” and said that criminal cases in Romania have now been suspended and that they will call on authorities to “act to face justice in the UK.”
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer declined to comment on the situation and whether the UK wanted to see the Tate handed over to the UK.
The self-proclaimed misogynistic social media influencer Tate has gained millions of fans by promoting a super-masculine lifestyle that critics say denies women.
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