Controversial influencer brothers Andrew Tate, 38, and Tristan Tate, 36, landed in the United States this week while still under criminal investigation in Romania over a string of allegations, including human trafficking.
The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers, are often associated with the “manosphere,” a social media movement that seeks to elevate men and invalidate feminism. The two, who are dual U.S.-British citizens, have been accused by critics of embodying toxic masculinity and misogyny.
The brothers, who had been in Romania since their December 2022 arrest there, arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday, after a Romanian travel ban on them was lifted, according to their spokesperson.
The news of their U.S. return was met with shock and surprise by many, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said the state is “not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct.”In a statement after landing, Andrew Tate said they’ve “yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever. We have no criminal record anywhere on the planet.”
Some speculated that the State Department or the White House helped lift the travel ban. A Trump official and the State Department declined to comment on Thursday. Joseph McBride, the Tate brothers’ U.S.-based attorney, told NBC News that he would not comment on whether the State Department or the White House was involved.
Here’s what else to know.
Who are the Tate brothers, and why are they controversial?
Andrew Tate’s notoriety online began in 2016 during his brief stint on the reality-TV show “Big Brother.” He was kicked off the show after The Sun published a video of him appearing to hit a woman with a belt, which he said was consensual.
Backlash toward him continued in 2017 when he tweeted that women should “bare some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted, amid other widely criticized statements appearing to blame women for the abuse and harassment they receive.
His rhetoric drew widespread criticism online. In August 2022, Tate was banned from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube for violating the platforms’ community guidelines. Andrew Tate pushed back against his critics in a statement to NBC News in 2022, saying he’s playing an “online character.”
In November 2022, Andrew Tate’s Twitter account was reinstated by Elon Musk. He currently has nearly 11 million followers on the platform, now known as X.
Andrew Tate also previously ran a subscription-based online course called Hustler’s University 2.0, which people online described as a pyramid scheme. Tate denied running a pyramid scheme in a statement to NBC News, saying that he ran an “affiliate program, same as Amazon or Spotify or anyone else.”
Tristan Tate, also a former kickboxer, co-hosted a podcast with his brother called “Tate Speech.”
The podcast has not had a new episode since 2022.
What are the accusations against the Tate brothers?
In 2022, the brothers were arrested near Bucharest, Romania’s capital, along with two Romanian women. All four were indicted by Romanian prosecutors last year.
The brothers are under criminal investigation over accusations of having formed an organized criminal group, as well as human trafficking, the trafficking of minors and money laundering. They have denied any wrongdoing.
Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) said in a statement that prosecutors had approved a “request to modify the obligation preventing the defendants from leaving Romania.” It added that judicial control measures remained in place, The Associated Press reported. The agency did not expand on who had made the request.
In 2023, the Tate brothers filed a defamation lawsuit in the U.S. in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against a Jane Doe, accusing her and another woman of giving fabricated evidence to Romanian authorities and conspiring to defraud and falsely imprison them.
Earlier this month, a U.S. woman filed a countersuit against the brothers in a circuit court in Palm Beach County, Florida, claiming they defamed her. Alleging that the brothers’ actions have caused her severe emotional distress, Jane Doe seeks financial compensation in an amount to be determined at trial, as well as a court order prohibiting the Tate brothers from “contacting, harassing, or defaming” her.
In March 2024, the brothers were detained in Romania on arrest warrants issued by British authorities over allegations of sexual aggression in a U.K. case dating back to 2012-15, The Associated Press reported.
A court in Romania’s capital granted a request by British authorities to extradite Andrew Tate, but only after legal proceedings against him in Romania had concluded.
The British government has not commented on the developments.
What has the reaction to the Tate brothers’ U.S. arrival been?
Matthew Jury, a lawyer and representative for some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims, wrote in a post on X that the Tate brothers “being allowed to leave Romania by its authorities is equal parts disgusting and dismaying.”
In Florida, DeSantis said he learned about the Tate brothers’ imminent Florida arrival “through the media.”
“We have no involvement in that,” DeSantis said.
He added that it was under the federal government’s jurisdiction “whether they want to rebuff his entry into the United States.”
“Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that kind of conduct,” DeSantis said.
In a statement shared to X, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote that he had directed his office to “work with our state law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into these individuals.”
“Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women. If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable,” Uthmeier wrote.
Some Republicans in Florida were more enthusiastic about the Tate brothers’ return.
“As free speech absolutists, the Tate’s haven’t been formally convicted of any crimes and are welcome to speak to our group,” the Tampa Bay Young Republicans wrote in an X post.
What happens next?
The Tate brothers would still be expected to appear before judicial authorities in Romania if summoned, and were warned by DIICOT that violating their obligations could “result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure.”
McBride, the pair’s U.S.-based attorney, said the Tate brothers plan to return to Romania at the end of March to meet with prosecutors. They will then come back to the U.S., he said.
“They feel secure in America for several reasons, the primary one being that Donald Trump is the President,” McBride said in a statement. “As a result, they are excited to call America their home again.”
As for the Tate brothers’ Florida defamation suit, McBride said a Zoom hearing was expected to be held on Thursday. He said the timing of the hearing was a coincidence and unrelated to their travel. McBride did not specify the purpose of this hearing.
Jury, the U.K.-based attorney, said in his post to X that “UK authorities must take immediate steps to secure their extradition to the UK to face charges for the offences of human trafficking and rape they are alleged to have committed in this jurisdiction.”
