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Controversial influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, have left for the United States after a travel ban on them was lifted.
The brothers are also charged with forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, while Andrew Tate faces an additional charge of rape.
It was not clear under what conditions the Tates — who are avid supporters of US President Donald Trump and boast millions of online followers— were allowed to fly out of Romania.
An official at the internal affairs ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision was at the discretion of prosecutors.
Romania’s anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT, said on Thursday that prosecutors approved a “request to modify the obligation preventing the defendants from leaving Romania”, but that judicial control measures remained in place.
Andrew Tate was arrested along with his brother and two women in 2022. Source: AAP, EPA / Robert Ghement
The agency did not say who had made the request.
“These include the requirement to appear before judicial authorities whenever summoned,” the agency said, adding they faced “a stricter deprivation of liberty measure” if they did not comply.
Andrew Tate, 38, and Tristan Tate, 36 — who are dual US-British citizens — were arrested near Romania’s capital in late 2022 along with two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four in 2024.
In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that a trial could start but did not set a date. All four deny the allegations.
The Tate brothers were banned from leaving Romania in late 2023. In July 2024, a Bucharest court lifted the travel restriction, granting them freedom of movement within the European Union. Later that month, prosecutors , reinstating the ban.
The Tates’ departure from Romania comes after foreign minister Emil Hurezeanu said earlier this month that a US official in the Trump administration had expressed interest in the brothers’ legal case in Romania at the Munich Security Conference.
The minister insisted it did not amount to pressure.
In December, a court in Bucharest ruled that the case against the Tates and the two Romanian women could not go to trial because of legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors.
However, the decision did not mean the defendants could walk free.
The case has not been closed, and there is a separate legal case against the brothers in Romania.
Last August, DIICOT launched a second case against the Tates, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering.
They have denied all the charges.
Andrew Tate is a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X. He was banned from the social media platform — and — for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech, before X owner Elon Musk reinstated his account in 2022.
Andrew Tate has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and there is a political conspiracy to silence him.
The Tate brothers’ legal battles, however, are not limited to Romania.
In late 2024, a UK court ruled that in a separate case against the Tate brothers, police can seize more than ÂŁ2.6 million ($5.2 million) to cover years of unpaid taxes from the pair and froze some of their accounts.
Last March, the Bucharest Court of Appeal granted a UK request to in a case dating to 2012-15, but only after legal proceedings in Romania had concluded.
