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Right influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan landed at an airport in Florida after fleeing by private plane from Romania, where prosecutors set up restrictions that had forbidden them from leaving the place where they were held on charges including sexual exploitation.
Local television images showed to the brothers, who are dual American nationals and in the United Kingdom, departing from an aircraft at Fort Lauderdale airport near Miami on Thursday. The duo had been detained in Romania since 2022 on charges of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, money laundering and the operation of an organized crime group. They have denied wrongdoing.
The surprise decision of the Romanian authorities to remove travel restrictions on self-described Misogynist influencers came after the US pressure first reported by Financial Times, with high-ranking officials in Washington pushing Romanian authorities to remove restrictions on brothers.
Romanian authorities on Thursday said they had “modified” the detention of the defendants leaving Romania, but prosecutors said prosecution against the party continued. The United Kingdom has also sought to extradite them.
Authorities allowed the brothers to leave Romania on the condition that they would return the next month to report to a local police station, but people familiar with the matter could not say if they were respected.
A court in Bucharest on Thursday decided to open the brothers’ bank accounts and return their properties and luxury cars, which were caught as part of the procedures against them. Some assets still remain “under preliminary confiscation,” said their legal team.
Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hureszeanu told Times on Thursday that he had no information about the release of “brothers, nor” information about the requests or questions of the US “.
Romania’s Teth detention has attracted significant interest in the US, where it has been protected on the right -wing social media, with figures such as the former Fox News Carlson, a leading supporter of President Donald Trump, conducting charming interviews.
Andrew Tate has built a continuation of several millions on the online platforms targeted for young people who promote the idea of male superiority and reject feminism. He moved to Romania in 2017, claiming that the country’s legal system was more permissible in relation to personal freedoms than in the West.
The UK extradition request came after police received a European arrest warrant in March 2024 as part of an investigation into charges of rape and human trafficking. Police in the Bedfordshire who were leaving that investigation said Thursday that they were working with Romanian authorities as part of a continuing investigation but had no further comment.
A group of four British alleged victims issued a joint statement saying they were “in disbelief and feel re-traumatized by news that Romanian authorities have pressured the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate” to travel to the US
“It is clear that there is now a great risk that prosecution for his alleged crimes in Romania will not continue,” they added.
Matthew Jury, their lawyer at McCue Jury & Partners, called on the UK authorities to take “immediate steps to ensure their extradition to the UK” to face charges.
Romania has become an impossible battlefield for pro-Trump influencers, who have also criticized the country’s authorities for canceling the first round of his presidential election in December. Authorities claimed that extensive Russian interventions had benefited from far -right Caorgescu far -right candidate, who ended first.
Prosecutors on Wednesday launched a criminal investigation in Georgescu, with legal experts suggesting that the charges against him can be used to block him from running in the repeated elections set for May.
Analysts said both cases underlined extreme political pressures in the Romanian justice system.
Costin Coobanu, a researcher at Aarhus University specializing in Romania, said the latest events “are likely to arouse internal debates and ask questions about how the judiciary” has dealt with the cases.
Additional reporting from Suzi Ring and Peter Andringa in London
