Why did Andrew and Tristan Tate go to the US?

Florida has launched a criminal investigation into controversial British-American influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate.

At the end of February, the brothers flew to the US from Romania, where they face rape and human-trafficking charges – which they deny.

Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are dual US-UK citizens who claim to have made millions from their social media empire.

Their online output was controversial even before their legal troubles, with the pair attracting frequent criticism over offensive statements about women.

The pair have an American father who worked for the US Air Force in Britain. Their parents met in the UK before moving to the US.

After their parents divorced, their mother moved to Luton, England. The brothers spent time in the UK, where they built their early careers.

Police in the UK have linked Andrew Tate to the “quite terrifying” radicalisation of boys and young men in a 2024 report into violence against women and girls.

The brothers were first arrested in Romania in 2022. They are facing separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK. Both brothers also deny the charges against them in the UK.

The brothers had been under a travel ban in Romania for more than two years while they were under investigation.

Speculation that they would leave Romania had been mounting ahead of their journey, after the pair went quiet on social media.

They flew from Bucharest to Florida on a private jet on 27 February.

Prosecutors said the travel ban had been lifted, and the pair’s US passports had been returned to them, but investigations into their alleged crimes have not been dropped and they are expected to return to Romania.

The Tates have a large US following and are popular figures among some elements of the American right.

Earlier in February, some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims said they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked for his travel restrictions to be relaxed.

It came after US special envoy Richard Grenell raised the Tate brothers with Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the Munich Security Conference.

Hurezeanu said he had not considered Grenell’s approach as a “form of pressure”. Grenell told the Financial Times his support for the brothers was evident.

The Tates have been vocal supporters of US President Donald Trump, while Trump’s close adviser, Elon Musk, restored Andrew Tate’s account on X after he bought the social media platform in 2022.

In the US, the brothers are facing a civil lawsuit from a women who alleges they coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities. They strongly deny the allegations.

In a statement issued on 4 March, Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, said that he had directed his office and law enforcement partners “to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate”.

He added: “Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers.”

In response, a statement from the Tate brothers’ lawyer Joseph McBride called Uthmeier’s comments “inflammatory” and “biased”.

“He publicly took a side in an ongoing Florida lawsuit where Andrew and Tristan Tate are suing a Florida woman for orchestrating a sophisticated plot to use sex as a weapon to ruin their lives,” he added.

The cases against the Tate brothers in Romania are now being rewritten by prosecutors, who allowed them to leave the country on the condition that they return – possibly as early as the end of March.

The pair’s request to leave the country was accepted, prosecutors said, but their request for the charges against them to be dropped was rejected.

The brothers face a number of civil and criminal legal cases.

They are accused of human trafficking and forming an organised group to sexually exploit women in Romania. Andrew Tate is also accused of rape. They deny the charges.

They face separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK, which they also deny. In March 2024, a Romanian court ruled they could be extradited to the UK after their case in Romania concluded.

Separately, lawyers for four women who claim they were assaulted by Andrew Tate said they were bringing a civil case at the High Court in the UK for “damages for injuries they suffered as a result”.

A representative for the Tate brothers said in response that they “unequivocally deny all allegations”.

A separate civil case in the UK, which the brothers are contesting, accuses the brothers and a third individual of being serial tax evaders.

The brothers have had their properties, vehicles, bank accounts and company shares returned to them by the Romanian authorities, a spokesperson for the brothers said.

A Ferrari, a Mercedes-Benz, and an Audi A5 were among the vehicles released, the spokesperson said.

The assets, which were seized by the authorities in the wake of the brothers’ detention in 2022, were released following a court appeal led by their lawyer Eugen Vidineac.

Some of their assets “remain under precautionary seizure”, the spokesperson said, but described the ruling as a “significant step toward justice.”

Four women who allege they were sexually abused by Andrew Tate said they were in “disbelief and feel re-traumatised” by his departure from Romania.

In a joint statement, the four said: “It is clear that he will now not face criminal prosecution for his alleged crimes in Romania; he will use it as an opportunity to harass further and intimidate witnesses and his accusers, and he will continue to spread his violent, misogynistic doctrine around the world.”

They also urged British authorities to “finally take action, do something about this terrifying unfolding situation and ensure he faces justice in the UK”.

Matthew Jury, a lawyer representing the four alleged victims, told the BBC the Trump administration was “interfering in due process” in Romania and the UK.

He added he didn’t think the Tate brothers would “ever face justice in Romania now”.