Andrew Tate, charged with rape and trafficking in Romania, returns to the U.S.

Brothers Andrew Tate, 38, and Tristan Tate, 36, left Romania while under criminal investigation over a string of allegations, including human trafficking and sex with a minor.

Andrew Tate, right, and his brother, Tristan, outside court in Bucharest, Romania, in January.Vadim Ghirda / AP

Controversial influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who both face charges in Romania, including human trafficking and sexual intercourse with a minor, have arrived in the United States after a travel ban on them was lifted, according to their spokesperson and Romanian prosecutors.

A spokesperson for the brothers, Mateea Petrescu, said the two landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, around midday, The Associated Press reported.

Ahead of their arrival, Joseph McBride, the Tate brothers’ U.S.-based attorney, told NBC News on Thursday morning, he would not comment on whether the State Department or the White House was involved in lifting the travel ban. A Trump official also declined to comment on the Tate brothers’ arrival in the United States.

“Our position is that Andrew and Tristan have long been targets of lawfare,” McBride said. “They have maintained their innocence, arguing the accusations against them are defamatory and false.”

When asked about the Tate brothers entering the state, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was under the federal government’s jurisdiction “whether they want to rebuff his entry into the United States.”

The Tate brothers, who are dual U.S.-British citizens, were reported by Romanian media to have taken a private plane from the country to the U.S. early Thursday.

The brothers left Romania while under criminal investigation over accusations of having formed an organized criminal group, in addition to human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sex with a minor and money laundering. They have denied any wrongdoing.

Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, or DIICOT, said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors had approved a “request to modify the obligation preventing the defendants from leaving Romania,” but it said judicial control measures remained in place, The Associated Press reported. The agency did not expand on who had made the request.

The Tate brothers would still be expected to appear before judicial authorities if summoned and were warned that violating their obligations could “result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure,” DIICOT said.

Andrew Tate, 38, and Tristan Tate, 36, were arrested near Bucharest, Romania’s capital, in 2022 along with two Romanian women, with all four indicted by Romanian prosecutors last year.

The Bucharest Tribunal ruled in April that a trial could move forward but did not set a date, with all four denying the allegations against them.

The Tate brothers’ departure to the U.S. comes after an American woman who says the siblings attempted to recruit her into a webcam sex trafficking ring filed a countersuit against them this month, claiming they had defamed her after she gave a testimony to Romanian authorities.