Andrew Tate and brother land in Florida, DeSantis says they are not welcome

Controversial influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have landed in Florida, after Romanian officers introduced that court docket restrictions prohibiting them from leaving Romania whereas awaiting trial had been lifted.

The pair had been touring aboard a personal jet after being allowed to depart Romania, in line with a supply near the brothers.

Their spokesperson shared a reside feed of the aircraft arriving in Fort Lauderdale late Thursday morning.

The Tates are accused of human trafficking and forming an organized legal group with the objective of sexually exploiting girls in two circumstances in Romania. Andrew Tate was additionally charged with rape. Separate allegations of cash laundering are additionally beneath investigation. The Tates have denied the allegations.

Upon leaving the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Worldwide Airport, Andrew Tate stated he believed he and his brother are “largely misunderstood.”

“We have but to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever. We now have no legal file anyplace on the planet, ever,” Andrew Tate stated.

He stated their case in Romania was “dismissed” in December 2024 and, as a result of they don’t have any lively indictment in court docket, the prosecutor “not too long ago determined” to allow them to return to the U.S.

Nevertheless, the costs in opposition to the Tates stay in pressure, and they are going to be anticipated to return to Romania for court docket appearances, in line with an announcement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, or DIICOT. The company warned that failure to watch the remaining judicial restrictions might lead to harsher restrictions being instated.

The brothers had been confined to Romania since late 2022 after they had been arrested on allegations of human trafficking, sexual abuse, cash laundering and forming an organized legal group. They had been charged in 2023. A second case started final yr on related fees involving extra girls.

In December 2024, a Bucharest court docket dominated that the primary case in opposition to the Tates and their two feminine associates could not proceed to trial due to a number of authorized and procedural irregularities and despatched it again to prosecutors. The fees weren’t dropped. The second human trafficking case in opposition to the brothers in Romania can also be nonetheless ongoing.

The Tates’ departure follows studies that Trump administration officers had lobbied Romania to raise a journey ban on them whereas they’re awaiting trial.

President Donald Trump informed reporters he wasn’t conscious the brothers had left Romania for the U.S. when requested Thursday if his administration pressured the Romanian authorities to launch them.

“I did not know something about it,” he informed reporters whereas within the Oval Workplace with U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“We’ll test it out, we’ll let you recognize,” Trump added.

A lawyer for an American girl who is likely one of the key alleged victims within the Romanian legal case in opposition to Andrew Tate condemned the Trump administration after he was allowed to depart Romania.

“It appears clear the U.S. intervened in Romania to help the Tate brothers who’re being prosecuted for intercourse trafficking over 35 girls together with minors,” Dani Pinter, senior vice chairman on the Nationwide Heart on Sexual Exploitation, stated in an announcement. “This can be a slap within the face to all of the victims of the Tate brothers particularly the U.S. sufferer who is just not being protected by her nation.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stated his workplace had no involvement within the case and discovered by the media that the brothers had been touring to Florida.

“However the actuality is, no, Florida is just not a spot the place you are welcome with that kind of conduct within the air,” he stated when requested by a reporter at an unrelated press convention on Thursday if Andrew Tate is welcome in Florida.

Florida Legal professional Basic James Uthmeier stated he directed his workplace earlier Thursday to work with state legislation enforcement to conduct a “preliminary inquiry” into the Tate brothers.

“Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence in opposition to girls,” he stated in a assertion on X. “If any of those alleged crimes set off Florida jurisdiction, we are going to maintain them accountable.”

There may be at the moment an arrest warrant in opposition to the Tates on allegations of sexual assault and human trafficking out of the UK. Final yr, a Romanian court docket authorised their extradition to the U.Ok. as soon as their Romanian circumstances concluded.

A lawyer for 4 British girls who’ve accused Andrew Tate of rape and coercing them have urged the U.Ok. authorities to intervene to make sure he’s nonetheless prosecuted in Britain.

“Any suggestion that the Tates will now face justice in Romania is fanciful,” the lawyer, Matthew Jury, stated in an announcement. “The U.Ok. authorities should take instant steps to safe their extradition to the U.Ok. to face fees for the offences of human trafficking and rape they’re alleged to have dedicated on this jurisdiction. Romania has embarrassed itself. The U.Ok. should not do the identical.”

The ladies within the U.Ok. case stated in a joint assertion that they’re “in disbelief and really feel re-traumatized by the information that Romanian authorities have given into stress from the Trump administration to permit Andrew Tate to journey round Europe and to the U.S.”

Jury known as on Starmer to lift the problem with Trump throughout their assembly in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

The prime minister additionally addressed the matter from the Oval Workplace.

“There’s an English component right here, so clearly it is necessary that justice is finished,” he stated. “Human trafficking is clearly, to my thoughts, a safety danger, and so we’ll meet up with the story.”

This can be a creating story. Please verify again for updates.