Police escort social media influencers Andrew Tate (L) and Tristan Tate (R) from the Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on February 27, 2023, after magistrates denied their appeal against pretrial detention arising from a Romanian special prosecutor’s service investigation into human trafficking and organized crime groups. Romanian police alleged the brothers and their associates coerced victims into creating content for a paid pornography service on social media platforms. File photo by Robert Ghement/EPA-EFE
Feb. 27 (UPI) — Social media influencers Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate were aboard a private jet Thursday flying to the United States after being allowed to leave Romania, more than three years after they were first arrested on human trafficking and organized crime charges.
The dual U.S-U.K. nationals were allowed to leave the country and were en route to Florida, CNN, the BBC and The Guardian reported lawyer Ioan Gilga as saying, but remain under investigation in Romania for alleged human trafficking, sexual intercourse with a minor, money laundering and founding an organized crime group — charges they deny.
“They no longer have a travel ban. The prosecutor, at the request of the lawyers, modified the content of the obligations previously imposed,” Gliga said.
The BBC said the destination of the aircraft carrying the Tates, a Gulfstream Jet, appeared to be Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, based off of publicly available Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System data.
The move by Romanian authorities came after reported pressure from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to let the Tates leave in a transatlantic phone call and in a meeting between special missions envoy Richard Grenell and Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany earlier this month.
One of Andrew Tate’s lawyers, Paul Ingrassia, serves as the Trump administration’s go-between with the U.S. Justice Department.
Trump has called the brothers’ detention “absolute insanity.”
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu rejected the claim the administration had intervened in the phone call outright.
Hurezeanu acknowledged a discussion had taken place but denied he had been pressurized to let the brothers return to the United States where they enjoy widespread backing from the right and have a huge online following among young men.
Counsel for their alleged victims say otherwise.
Matthew Jury, a lawyer for four women who allege Andrew Tate sexually abused them, accused the administration of “interfering in due process” in Romania as well as in Britain, which has filed an extradition warrant over a separate “sexual aggression” case from 2012.
Romanian courts have ruled their case must be wrapped up before they can consider the European Arrest Warrant obtained by police in the English county of Bedfordshire.
Romanian prosecutors said the case against the brothers stood and that they could be recalled at any time, adding “all other obligations remain in effect, including the requirement to appear before judicial authorities whenever summoned.”
The pair have a court date in March that they are required to attend, local media reported.
Jury said any pretense the brothers would ever return to Romania was preposterous.
Four of Andrew Tate’s alleged sexual abuse victims on Thursday expressed shock that he had been allowed to leave.
“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,” the women said in a joint statement.
The comments follow a plea issued by the women via their legal counsel for Romanian and British authorities to be “left alone to do their jobs,” and expressing concern the Trump administration was pushing Bucharest to lift its travel ban on the brothers, warning of the risk of them evading justice or fleeing Romania for good.
The women are pursuing a civil action, filed in the High Court in London in May, after authorities dropped their case against the brothers in 2019. The suit accuses them of rape and coercive control.
Former professional kickboxer Andrew is under a ban imposed by several social media sites for espousing misogyny and hate speech, but remains on Elon Musk’s X platform where he posts tips for his more than 10 million followers on how real men should live and conduct themselves.