Andrew Tate, facing charges of rape and deals in Romania, is back in the United States

The controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate have arrived in the United States, more than two years after they were arrested in Romania by positions that include people trafficking, rape and forming a criminal group to sexually exploit women.

Andrew Tate, 38, is a former professional kickboxer and misogynist self -describe that has accumulated monitoring of mass social networks, particularly among young men and schoolboys, to educators alarm. It has been described as “King of toxic masculinity“And one of the”The most controversial Internet figures. “Tristan, 36, is also a former Kickboxer and Self -written entrepreneur.

The two had been under a prohibition of traveling, and several months passed under house arrest Near Bucharest, since his arrest in December 2022. They remain under criminal investigation in Romania, even when they are allowed to leave the country.

The brothers deny all irregularities. Andrew has insisted that the Romanian authorities have no evidence and has repeatedly invoked “The matrix”, a term that several Male right -wing figures I have released what they see as conspiracies against them.

Tates’s lawyer, Joseph McBride, Posted in X Thursday morning That the brothers, who have double American citizenship-uk, “have returned home to the United States.”

“Yesterday, Romania decidedly decided that he did not have the necessary evidence to retain them more,” he wrote.

The brothers landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, around noon on Thursday, said their spokesman Matea Petrescu to the Associated press.

When asked about his arrival, the governor of Florida Ron Desantis told journalists While the decision to reject his entry lies in the Trump administration, the State Attorney General is investigating what authority “we can have to deal with this.”

“The reality is: no, Florida is not a place where he of anything with that kind of air behavior,” said Desantis. “I don’t know how it came to this. We weren’t involved, they didn’t notify us.”

In response, McBride tweeted That the Tates are not only US citizens, but that the plaintiffs in a demand for high profile defamation are litigated in Palm Beach County. They sued an American woman not identified in 2023, accusing her of giving evidence made of the Romanian authorities. She presented a counter against them Earl this month.

The exact circumstances of the liberation of the brothers are not clear, although the reports that the Trump administration follow The officials pressed Romania To lift travel restrictions. Andrew Tate is a vocal supporter of the president.

“The Tates will be free, Trump is the president,” Tate Posted at the beginning of this month In X, where it has more than 10 million followers. “The good old days have returned. And they will be better than ever.”

The Romanian anti -organ agency of Romania, Diicot, said Thursday in a Press release that prosecutors approved a “request to modify the obligation that prevents the defendants from abandoning Romania.” The statement did not say who made the request.

The Legal and Tate legal team did not immediately respond to the NPR application for more information. The State Department declined to comment.

Romanian prosecutors also said that other “judicial control measures” remain in place, including the requirement that the brothers must return for appearances in court every time they are convened.

In addition to their Romanian cases, the Tates also face separate accusations of tax evasion and sexual violence in the United Kingdom. A Romanian Court of Appeals ruled in March 2024 that the couple could be extradited to the United Kingdombut only after the conclusion of Romanian legal procedures.

After landing in Florida, Andrew Tate He said to journalists Outside the airport that Romanian prosecutors had decided “because we don’t have an active accusation in court, to let us go and return.” And emphasized that the two have not been convicted of any crime.

“We live in a democratic society where it is innocent until it is proven guilty and I think my brother and I are largely misunderstood,” he added.

As the questions revolve on what could happen next, here is a look at the divisive personality of social networks and the cases against them.

What to know about Andrew Tate

Tate first became an international name through his career as a kickboxer, Win several world titles.

In 2016, he was began The British version of reality show Older brother On a video of him hitting a woman with a belt. Tate said the video was a “total lie” that had been edited to look bad.

In social networks, Tate became a vocal defender of former President Trump and was Seen by Washington, DCwith prominent theoretics of conspiracy and in right -wing interview programs.

After designed as a self -help influencer for men, he was expelled from Twitter in 2017 by saying that women should assume the responsibility of being sexually assaulted. His Twitter account was reinstated in November 2022 after Elon Musk took possession of the platform.

In several points, Tate It has been prohibited From YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok for similar misogynical comments.

Wealth is also a focus for Tate, who often publications about Luxury cars, yachts and airplanes in their X account. Several of their commercial activities have aimed to teach others how to acquire a similar type of lifestyle.

Directed an online education platform called Hustlers Universitywhich aimed to “empower men with a business mentality to become the best versions of themselves.” After it closed in 2022, it launched a renowned version called The Real World.

Tate has said that Romania moved in 2017, at least in part because the authorities there were less likely to seek accusations of sexual crimes. In Evaluation 2024The United States Department of State said the Romanian government “does not completely meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”

“I’m not a rapist, but I like the idea of being able to do what I want,” Tate said in a YouTube video since then Reported by NBC News.

The brothers have been accused in Romania

The Tate brothers were arrested, along with two Romanian women, in December 2022 for positions that include people trafficking and the beginning of a group of organized crimes.

Diichot alleged at that time that the suspects recruited women who were later subject to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion,” sexually exploited by the group members and forced to perform in pornography to harvest “important financial benefits.” Diicot alleges that a woman was repeatedly raped in early 2022.

Tate has constantly denied those accusations, tweeting In a moment That “anyone who believes that I am a trafficker of people is really a moron.”

While the Tates were accused In 2023, there is no established date for a test.

Diichot launched A second investigation against the Tates In 2024, on a separate set of accusations that include trafficking in minors, sex with less and money laundering.

The brothers won another legal victory on Thursday: Reuters reported – citing a brothers representative – that a Romanian court raised a seizure in some of its assets, two years after the authorities confiscated dozen cars and luxury watches It is worth $ 4 million since its complex near Bucharest.

They also face multiple accusations in the United Kingdom

The brothers are also accused of fiscal evasion, who deny, in a separated civil case in the United Kingdom

In 2024, the Devon and Cornwall police went to the Court to claim money from the Tates and a third person without a name. They accused the brothers not to pay any tax on 21 million pounds (approximately ($ 26.5 million) in revenue of their online businesses between 2014 and 2022. A British court governed in December That police could take more than 2.6 million pounds ($ 3.3 million) of them.

The United Kingdom authorities also issued arrest orders for the brothers last year for accusations of sexual assault in a separate case dating from 2012 to 2015. The Tates were Briefly arrested in March On a European arrest warrant issued by the British authorities, after which the Romanian court approved its eventual extradition to face charges in the United Kingdom

Separately, four British women are demanding Andrew Tate in the United Kingdom, in a civil suit accusing him of sexual violence and physical abuse. Three of the women had previously reported Tate to local authorities, but the Crown Prosecutor’s Office refused to process it in 2019.

Matthew July, a lawyer who represents the four women, strongly condemned The launch of the Tates on a tweet on Thursday, qualifying the news “to an unpleasant and consternative” parts.

“Any suggestion that the Tates will face justice in Romania is fantasy,” he wrote. “The United Kingdom authorities must take immediate measures to ensure their extradition to the United Kingdom to face charges for the crimes of trafficking in persons and violations that have supposedly committed in this jurisdiction.”

This story includes 2022 reports by the then NPR reporter Emily Olson.