After Romanian authorities lifted a ban preventing Andrew and Tristan Tate from leaving the country where they face rape, human trafficking and organized crime charges, the brothers flew by private jet on Thursday to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, landing just before 11 a.m. local time.
The Tates were arrested in December 2022 in Romania, and forced to stay as their case went through the courts. However, when Donald Trump won elections in November, Andrew Tate celebrated his victory on social media and announced, “I’m moving back to America.”
Indeed, the Trump administration pushed Romanian authorities to lift the travel ban, the Financial Times reported. The brothers are dual citizens of the U.K. and U.S.
Just a few days ago, Andrew Tate pinned a promotional video featuring clips of Trump and himself. “I’m so excited for the next four years because it’s winning time,” said Tate over images of the U.S. president, adding that “we’re going to crush this case.”
The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said in a statement on Thursday that it had granted a request to lift “the obligation imposed on the defendants not to leave the territory of Romania.”
The same day, a U.S.-registered private jet whisked the brothers out of the capital, Bucharest, at 6 a.m. local time, and set a course for Florida. Meanwhile, the BBC reported that a spokesperson for the Tate brothers said Romania had also returned six previously seized cars, as well as company shares, and unfrozen all of their bank accounts.
"While some assets remain under precautionary seizure, this ruling marks a significant step toward justice. We remain committed to full transparency and will continue to uphold our legal rights," the BBC cited the spokesperson as saying.
A wildly popular misogynist social media influencer, Andrew Tate has publicly claimed to have made $300,000 to $600,000 per month from coercing women to perform sexual acts on the internet, saying that forcing women to work 12-plus hour shifts was integral to success.
“The Tate brothers' case is the most debated and most internationally visible human trafficking case,” said Iana Matei, founder of Reaching Out Romania, a non-profit that helps find and rehabilitate sex trafficking victims.
“Today, in an entirely non-transparent way, the two left for the U.S. in a private plane, not in prison clothes,” she said, adding that “justice remains powerless" in the face of “geopolitical interests.”
DIICOT did not answer phone calls or respond to requests for comment.
The Tate brothers have denied the allegations against them in Romania, as well as the U.K. where they face similar charges.
Credit: Screenshot of FlightRadar24 website
OCCRP and its Romanian member center RISE revealed in 2023 that the Tate brothers partnered in a local casino chain with alleged organized crime figures. Reporters also confirmed that Romanian prosecutors were investigating whether the Tates laundered money earned in sex trafficking through Romanian real estate.
The Tate brothers are supposed to return to Romania for court appearances, according to the public statement from DIICOT.
Flight tracking data shows that the Tates left Bucharest in a Gulfstream G550, which had flown to Romania from Oman, arriving at 3 a.m. local time.
The aircraft is registered to Woods Management LLC in Chicago, and listed on a commercial website as being available for charter. Similar jets typically rent for an average price of $10,000 an hour, meaning the estimated 10-hour flight between Bucharest and Fort Lauderdale could cost around $100,000.
