The self-proclaimed "king of masculinity" left Romania on a private jet following encouragement from the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump.
This is revealed in an investigation by OCCRP.
After Romanian authorities lifted a ban that prevented Andrew and Tristan Tate from leaving the country where they are facing charges of rape, human trafficking, and organized crime, 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 had to remain there as their court case proceeded. However, when Donald Trump won the election in November, Andrew Tate celebrated his victory on social media and declared, “I’m moving back to America.”
In fact, the Trump administration urged Romanian authorities to lift the travel ban, reported the Financial Times. The brothers hold dual citizenship in the U.K. and the U.S.
Recently, Andrew Tate pinned a promotional video with clips of Trump and himself. “I’m so excited for the next four years because it’s winning time,” said Tate over footage of the U.S. president, adding that “we’re going to crush this case.”
The Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) stated on Thursday that it had granted a request to remove “the obligation imposed on the defendants not to leave the territory of Romania.”
The same day, a U.S.-registered private jet took the brothers out of the capital, Bucharest, at 6 a.m. local time and headed for Florida. Meanwhile, the BBC reported that a spokesperson for the Tate brothers said that Romania had also returned six previously seized cars, 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 quoted the spokesperson as saying.
Andrew Tate, a widely popular misogynistic social media influencer, has publicly claimed to earn $300,000 to $600,000 per month by coercing women into performing sexual acts online, stating that forcing them to work over 12-hour shifts was crucial to success.
“The Tate brothers’ case is the most contested and most internationally visible human trafficking case,” said Iana Matei, founder of Reaching Out Romania, a non-profit organization that helps find and rehabilitate victims of sex trafficking.
“Today, in an entirely non-transparent manner, the two left for the U.S. in a private plane, not in prison clothes,” she said, adding that “justice remains powerless" against “geopolitical interests.”
DIICOT did not respond to phone calls or requests for comment.
The Tate brothers have denied the accusations against them in both Romania and the U.K., where they face similar charges.
The private jet transporting the Tate brothers from Romania landing in Florida, US.
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 verified that Romanian prosecutors were investigating whether the Tates laundered money earned from sex trafficking through Romanian real estate.
The Tate brothers are expected to return to Romania for court appearances, according to a public statement from DIICOT.
Flight tracking data reveals that the Tates departed 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 is listed on a commercial website as being available for charter. Similar jets usually rent for an average of $10,000 per hour, meaning the estimated 10-hour flight between Bucharest and Fort Lauderdale could cost around $100,000.
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