Andrew Tate and brother Tristan leave Romania on plane bound for US

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have left Romania and are heading to the US, after a travel ban on them was lifted, an official said on Thursday.

The brothers left Romania at 5.30am on Thursday morning, on a private plane headed to Florida, according to Antena3, the Romanian partner of CNN.

The pair had been banned from leaving the country since December 2023, while awaiting trial on several counts.

The brothers received permission to leave from the prosecutor in charge of their case. It is not clear under what conditions the Tates were allowed to leave Romania.

In Romania, they are facing allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.

A separate case against them, in which they are accused of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, has been sent back to prosecutors.

Andrew Tate is also facing criminal accusations of sexual misconduct in the UK. Both have repeatedly denied the allegations against them.

It was an unexpected decision, after almost two and a half years during which the Tates were not allowed to leave the country.

Andrew and Tristan Tate are keen supporters of US President Donald Trump.

Last week, there were reports that figures in Trump’s administration were pressuring the Romanian authorities to relax travel restrictions on the brothers.

US officials brought up the Tates’ case in a call with the Romanian government earlier this month, and US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell met the Romanian foreign minister at the Munich Security Conference, the Financial Times reported.

A request was made to return the Tates’ passports to allow them to travel during criminal proceedings, the paper reported.

Andrew Tate has been banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments, including that women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted.

But he remains popular on X, with more than 10 million followers. In July last year, senior police officers in the UK warned that influencers like Tate could radicalise social media followers into extreme misogyny.