US-British influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have left Romania for the US after a travel ban on them was lifted, Romanian media reported on Thursday.
The Tates have been accused of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
They have denied all wrongdoing.
Why did Romania lift restrictions on the Tates?
Romania’s G4Media.ro news portal cited airport sources as saying that the Tates left Bucharest’s Baneasa airport on Thursday morning and departed for Florida in a private airplane.
Meanwhile, prosecutors confirmed that the brothers were no longer obliged to remain in Romania.
“The request to change the obligation of not leaving Romania was approved,” prosecutors said in a Thursday statement.
Prosecutors stressed that “all the other obligations have been maintained, including the requirement to check in with judicial authorities every time they are called.”
Prosecutors did not specify who had made the request for the lifting of the travel ban.
Last week, the London-based Financial Times business daily reported that US officials had called the Romanian government and requested for restrictions on the pair be dropped.
Last week, Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said that US special envoy Richard Grenell had brought up the Tates’ case on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
The Tate brothers have repeatedly voiced support for US President Donald Trump in social media posts and videos.
What are Andrew and Tristan Tate accused of?
The Tates were arrested near Bucharest in late 2022 along with two Romanian women.
All four are accused of setting up a criminal organization in early 2021 in Romania and Britain that allegedly sexually exploited 34 women.
In August 2024, Romanian police raided several houses belonging to the brothers.
In July, the Bucharest Court of Appeal overturned a ruling that allowed the Tates to travel freely within the European Union.
In a separate case, a UK court ruled in December of last year that British police may seize over 2 million pounds ($2.54 million, €2.42 million) from the Tates and a woman identified only as “J.” over tax evasion allegations.
UK police described the pair as “serial” tax evaders, and a video was submitted to court in which Andrew Tate could be heard saying “when I lived in England, I refused to pay tax.”
Edited by: Kieran Burke
