British-American internet influencers Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, who are under criminal investigation in Romania, are said to have departed the country after the Trump administration urged officials to ease travel restrictions put on them in connection with their ongoing sex trafficking case.
According to News.Az, the brothers boarded the flight on Thursday morning and asked not to be named due to the delicate nature of the situation.
They are reported to have departed the nation via private plane, with sources stating that the brothers are on their way to the US state of Florida with US passports after Romanian authorities restored their paperwork.
This comes as Trump administration officials pressed Romanian authorities earlier this month to lift travel restrictions on self-proclaimed masculinity influencer Tate and his brother Tristan, who face criminal charges in the country.
The two, both US and UK citizens, were arrested in 2022 on charges of human trafficking, s*xual misbehavior, money laundering, and forming an organized crime group.
They’ve denied any wrongdoing. According to sources, US officials made their case with Bucharest over the phone in early February, followed by a meeting between Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell and the Romanian foreign minister.
Another insider informed the newspaper that a request had been made to return the brothers’ passports and allow them to travel while their court hearings were pending.
Since their arrest in 2022, the brothers’ movements have been restricted, with three months in police imprisonment followed by house arrest and being barred from leaving the country.
The two men are also facing charges in the UK, including r@pe and human trafficking, and a Bucharest judge has ordered that they can be extradited to Britain after their case in Romania is resolved.
The Romanian special prosecutor’s department (DIICOT), which is investigating the Tate brothers, announced in a statement that the case against them has not been dismissed.
The brothers will have to return to Romania at a later date, which the BBC believes will be the end of March, according to journalist Nick Thorpe, who is now in Bucharest.
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