BUCHAREST – Andrew and Tristan Tate, influential brothers facing human trafficking charges in Romania, have departed for the United States following the lifting of a travel ban, as confirmed by an official on Thursday.
The brothers are also charged with forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The circumstances allowing the Tates, known for their strong support of U.S. President Donald Trump and substantial online following, to exit Romania remain unclear.
According to an insider from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who requested anonymity due to lack of authorization to disclose details about the case, the decision to permit their departure was made by the prosecution.
Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors approved a “request to modify the obligation preventing the defendants from leaving Romania,” but that judicial control measures remained in place. The agency did not say who had made the request.
“These include the requirement to appear before judicial authorities whenever summoned,” the statement read. “The defendants have been warned that deliberately violating these obligations may result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure.”
Andrew Tate, 38, and Tristan Tate, 36 — who are dual U.S.-British citizens — were arrested near Romania’s capital in late 2022 along with two Romanian women. Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four last year. In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that a trial could start but did not set a date. All four deny all of the allegations.
The Tates’ departure came after Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said this month that a U.S. official under the current Trump administration had expressed interest in the brothers’ legal case in Romania at the Munich Security Conference. The minister insisted it didn’t 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 multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors.
That decision by the Bucharest Court of Appeal was a huge setback for DIICOT, but it did not mean the defendants could walk free. The case has not been closed, and there is also a separate legal case against the brothers in Romania.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
