Andrew Tate heading to Florida, source says
PHOTO CAPTION: Andrew Tate talks to media representatives while being loaded inside a van outside the headquarters of the Bucharest Court of Appel, in Bucharest, Romania, February 1, 2023. Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea via REUTERS
By Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Internet personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan left Romania on a private flight headed to Florida in the United States, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday, after prosecutors lifted a travel ban.
The source said that the brothers would return towards the end of March to fulfil legal obligations related to their criminal case in Romania, which require them to check in with police at regular intervals.
The Tate brothers are under investigation in Romania on accusations of forming an organised criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering. They have denied all wrongdoing.
The Financial Times reported last week, citing sources, that members of U.S. President Donald Trump's administration had pressured Romanian authorities to lift travel restrictions on the Tates, former kickboxers with dual U.S. and British citizenship.
Romania's Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu denied he had faced pressure, but said the Tates were mentioned during his brief hallway meeting with Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
Pending the criminal investigation, the Tates are under judicial control, a light preventative measure under which they are required to check in with the police regularly. They were first detained in 2022.
A self-described misogynist, social media influencer Andrew Tate has gained millions of fans by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say denigrates women.
Until this week, the brothers were also banned from leaving Romania, a measure that has now been lifted.
"The request to change the obligation of not leaving Romania was approved," prosecutors said.
"All the other obligations have been maintained, including the requirement to check in with judicial authorities every time they are called."
The Romanian network to prevent violence against women, which groups 24 non-governmental organisations, sent prosecutors an open letter on Thursday asking them to publicly communicate why the travel ban had been lifted, "so that any kind of doubt regarding the independence and impartiality of the Romanian judicial system be dispelled."
A first criminal case against Tate and his brother failed in December when a Bucharest court decided not to start the trial and sent the files back to prosecutors citing flaws in the indictment.
A British arrest warrant has also been issued for the Tates and they will be extradited after Romanian trial proceedings are completed. The allegations in Britain - denied by them - relate to sexual aggression between 2012 and 2015.
(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Sharon Singleton)
