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Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrive in Romania after weeks in the United States

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Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrive in Romania after weeks in the United States
News

News

Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrive in Romania after weeks in the United States

2025-03-22 08:13 Last Updated At:08:21

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — After weeks in the United States, influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived early Saturday back in Romania, where they face charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The Tates, who are dual U.S. and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges that they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny all of the allegations against them.

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Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

FILE - Andrew Tate gestures, next to his brother, Tristan, outside the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

FILE - Andrew Tate gestures, next to his brother, Tristan, outside the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

The brothers' plane — which Andrew Tate said earlier in a post on X cost $185,000 to “jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper” — landed at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport shortly before 1.00 a.m. local time Saturday morning (2300 GMT, Friday).

After arriving at their residence near the capital, Bucharest, Andrew Tate told reporters they returned because “innocent men don’t run from anything” and he vowed to clear his name in court.

“After all we’ve been through, we truly deserve the day in court where it is stated that we’ve done nothing wrong and that we should have never been in court in the first place. We should have never gone to jail. We should have never had our assets seized. We should have never had our names slandered," he said. “Anyone who believed any of this garbage has a particularly low IQ.”

Their return to Romania comes nearly a month after a travel ban imposed on the brothers was lifted, after which they flew on a private jet to the U.S., landing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The brothers remain under judicial control, which requires them to appear before judicial authorities in Romania when summoned. Eugen Vidineac, one of the Tate brothers’ lawyers in Romania, told The Associated Press that the Tates are due to check in with a surveillance officer on Monday.

Days after the Tates arrived in the U.S., on March 4, Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office had opened a criminal investigation into Andrew and Tristan Tate. He said in a social media post that he directed his office to work with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the brothers.

A day after the investigation was opened, Andrew Tate said in a post on X: “I didn’t commit any crime and they’re trying to find one because they don’t like me."

The lifting of their two-year travel ban came after a Bucharest court in December ruled that a case against the brothers could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors. The case, however, remained open.

For his part, Tristan Tate said after returning to Romania, “I think it’s very telling that we were investigated for two and a half years, and we were dragged ... in front of the media, into prison, out of prison, all this time, and in December last year, a judge said ... there’s not evidence enough for this to even go to trial."

Last August, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency DIICOT also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.

Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.

“There are a lot of people in the world today that do not have faith in Romanian institutions ... but we’re going to restore that faith by coming home, as American citizens, going to court, and getting the not guilty that we deserve,” Andrew Tate said. “If a court needs to speak to us, we’ll be there because we’re innocent.”

The Tate brothers’ legal battles are not limited to Romania.

Four British women who accused Andrew Tate of sexual violence and physical abuse are suing him in the U.K. after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him.

In March last year, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after U.K. authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to the period from 2012 to 2015.

The appeals court granted the U.K. request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Andrew Tate, right, speaks to media next to his brother Tristan, after returning from the United States, outside his home on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

FILE - Andrew Tate gestures, next to his brother, Tristan, outside the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

FILE - Andrew Tate gestures, next to his brother, Tristan, outside the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

President Donald Trump on Thursday visits a U.S. base installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East as he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.

In other parts of the Middle East violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza, A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.

with a pregnant Israeli woman killed even as the international rights group ,Human Rights Watch ,said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination.”

Trump plans to address troops at Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and supported the recent U.S. air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict as he works to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.

The President also meets business leaders in Qatar and heads to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.

An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.

It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.

The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.

Qatar’s satellite news channel Al Jazeera long has been a powerful force in the Middle East, often taking editorial positions at odds with America’s interests in the region during the wars that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaida.

But during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf Arab nation this week, state-funded Al Jazeera muted its typical critiques of American foreign policy.

The channel, which broadcasts in Arabic and English, broadly covered Trump’s visit in a straightforward manner, highlighting it was the first-ever trip to Qatar by a sitting American leader. Mentions of the Israel-Hamas war, which Al Jazeera often has criticized America over for its military support to Israel, did not include any critiques of U.S. policy. Instead, journalists highlighted Qatar’s role as a mediator in the war and aired comments by Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, calling for a ceasefire.

After a morning meeting with top U.S. and Qatari officials and American defense and aerospace business leaders, Trump heads to Al-Udeid Air Base, a U.S. installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East. There, he will address troops and is expected to view a demonstration of American air capability.

The president then travels to the United Arab Emirates, the final leg of his first major foreign trip. He will head first to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and then to a state visit hosted at Abu Dhabi’s Qasr al-Watan palace.

The international rights group said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination.”

It called on the international community to speak out against the plan. It said that the new plans, coupled with the “systematic destruction” of civilian infrastructure and the block on all imports into Gaza, were cause for signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent Israel’s moves. It said states should halt weapons transfers to Israel and enforce international arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister, as well as review their bilateral agreements with the country.

Israel vehemently denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.

The group also called on Hamas to free the 58 hostages it still holds in Gaza, 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

A pregnant Israeli woman has died after she was shot and critically wounded in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank, a hospital said Thursday.

Beilinson Hospital said that doctors succeeded in saving her unborn baby, who was in serious but stable condition after being delivered by caesarean section.

The Israeli military said a Palestinian assailant opened fire on a vehicle late Wednesday, wounded two civilians. Soldiers launched a search for the attacker.

It’s the latest violence in the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military has launched a major operation that it says is meant to crack down on militancy. The operation has displaced tens of thousands of people.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in months of violence that surged there after the start of the war in Gaza.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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