The most controversial 38-year-old influencer Andrew Tate has been under house arrest in Romania and later under surveillance and travel ban. He is accused of, among other things, rape, trafficking of minors, and organizing a criminal group for the sexual exploitation of women.
His brother Tristan Tate, 36, has also been under surveillance by the authorities. The brothers were free to move within Romania but were not allowed to leave the country until recently.
According to Romanian media reports, the plane is on its way to Florida.
Supported Trump
Andrew and Tristan Tate have strong support in right-wing social media and supported US President Donald Trump during his election campaign. Trump's administration is said to have lobbied for the Romanian authorities to ease the brothers' restrictions, reports Sky News.
A request from the Tate brothers to drop the Romanian investigations against them has been rejected, but their wish to leave the country has been approved, says the investigating Romanian authority DIICOT in a statement, reports BBC.
They are expected to return to Romania at a later stage.
Dual citizenship
Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested in a suburb of Romania's capital Bucharest in December 2022. Both deny the crimes and have dual citizenship, in both the United Kingdom and the USA.
A Romanian court decided last year that the two would be extradited to the United Kingdom, where they are also suspected of several crimes, but announced that the extradition could take several years due to the separate legal case in Romania.
Source information that the brothers have left Romania and are on their way to the USA has been provided to both international and Romanian media, but has not been confirmed by their spokesperson.
