'Misogynist' influencer Andrew Tate and brother fly to US after travel ban lifted

Romania has lifted a travel ban on the self-proclaimed "misogynist" influencer Andrew Tate and his brother as they face various crimianl charges. Now, they are traveling the United States, though Romanian media reports that they are expected to return to Romania in march for a court hearing.

The pair, now granted the ability to travel, is going to the US where they now have fans in high places. President Donald Trump had described their detention as "absolute insanity" and one of their lawyers Paul Ingrassia, is the White House liaison official for the US Department of Justice. Elon Musk has also supported Andrew Tate.

The social media personality with almost 11 million followers on X was first apprehended in Romania in December 2022. Authorities said Tate was part of a criminal gang involved in human trafficking in Romania, the US, and UK. He was imprisoned and put on house arrest in April, also alongside his bro.

Romanian authorities accuse Tate of using the "loverboy scam" to lure in his victims. Police said victims were recruited by foreign men, presumably the Tate brothers, who tricked them into believing they were in love and wanted to start a relationship.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

In June, Romanian authorities said in that Andrew Tate, his younger brother Tristan, and two Romanian women were indicted on charges including violating a woman, human trafficking, creating an organized crime group, and instigating violence. When the trial will begin remains unclear.

“Men. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about whether you like me or not. This is about all of us. Today it’s me. Tomorrow it’s you. Nobody is safe from these lies,” tweeted Tate after a Romanian police statement was released detailing the charges. He denies the allegations and insists there's no evidence.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

From there, the victims, seven of whom came forward, said they were brought to a building in Ilfov, near Bucharest, and subjected to physical and mental violence. Eventually, they were forced to create explicit content for social media, according to the statement.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

The seven victims allege that their forced labor led to “significant financial benefits” for Andrew Tate, his younger brother, and the others. The Romanian authorities say one of the four is accused of violating a woman sexually. A source told the New York Times that Andrew Tate is the one accused.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Tate is a 36-year-old former kickboxer and social media influencer. He was born in the United States but after his parents divorced, he moved to England.In 2017, he moved to Romania, saying he wanted to live in a country where "corruption is accessible for everyone" and where police would be less likely to investigate allegations related to s e x , according to Forbes.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

He first rose to prominence on the British reality TV show 'Big Brother' in 2016. He was booted from the show after six days. Producers said it was due to a video of him hitting a woman with a belt, and he was also under scrutiny for making homophobic and racist comments on Twitter, according to the BBC.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Tate then rose to fame as a far-right internet celebrity, becoming an influencer for a hyper-masculine world full of money. He gained prominence after discussing the Me Too movement and tweeting that depression “isn’t real.”

His influence snowballed during the pandemic. By July 2022 he became the most searched-for name on the internet, according to Forbes, beating out COVID-19 and Donald Trump. His videos had tens of millions of views.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

"You can’t slander me because I will state right now that I am absolutely sexist and I’m absolutely a misogynist, and I have eff you money and you can’t take that away,” he said in an appearance on the podcast ‘Anything Goes with James English.’

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

In a July 2022 interview with the Barstool Sports Podcast BFFS, he was asked about his statements regarding women. “I’m not saying they’re property,” he said. “I am saying they are given to the man and belong to the man.”

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Amid other online businesses, Tate launched Hustlers University that tried to teach wannabe Tates to get rich off flexible work, land women, and invest money in places like crypto. According to NBC, it was described as a pyramid scheme and cost $49 per month. Before it was shut down, it had 127,000 subscribers in 2022, according to the Observer.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Although he had been banned before, in the summer of 2022, he was permanently banned from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok for his “hate speech” or other charges. Twitter had also banned him, but Elon Musk reinstated his account, which now has nearly 11 million followers.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Andrew Tate had boasted of being “the world’s first trillionaire” in the past, but Romanian authorities say his assets are worth a lot less, estimated to be worth around $10 million, according to the Sun.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Romanian authorities uncovered 15 plots of land and buildings in Romania, 15 luxury cars, 14 luxury watches, stock in four companies worth less than $100,000, and 21 bitcoins, valued at around $567,000.

In August 2023, a Romanian court allowed the brothers to be released from a months-long house arrest ahead of a trial for human trafficking and other charges.

The measures allowed the hyper-popular influencer to leave his home but not Bucharest and the surrounding county in Romania. In December of that year, the brothers asked to visit their mom in the UK after she had a heart attack, but the Romanian court blocked that visit.

Despite being under house arrest and accused of violent crimes against women, the hyper-masculine influencer has still been getting his message out on huge platforms — case and point: Tucker Carlson's interview with the accused trafficker and violator.

Over the span of two and a half hours, Carlson had a wide-ranging conversation with Tate. In the first 20 minutes, Tucker accuses society of trying to turn boys into girls and laughs off the charges against Tate. For around 30 minutes, Tate defends himself against the “scary” Romanian prosecutors’ charges.

Image: @TuckerCarlson/Twitter

“They look at me and say: ‘he’s helping men resist slave programming... we don’t need him around,’” Tate said of his case, adding he’s seen as threat because he’s helping boys from ‘becoming eunuchs.’ Carlson replied, “I think I buy that.”

Image: @TuckerCarlson/Twitter

HuffPost correspondent SV Dáte called out Carlson for “glorifying an accused r a p i s t/human trafficker”. “Two and a half hours defending and singing the praises of an accused ra p i s t and human trafficker. So brave,” said Joe Walsh ironically, a former 2020 Republican presidential candidate.

Image: TuckerCarlson/Twitter

X owner Elon Musk promoted the video, calling it an “interesting interview.” The tweet had nearly 30 million views just hours after it was released. In the comments, several Twitter users said that the focus on far-right content is the reason why so many people are quitting the platform.

Image: elonmusk/Twitter

In 2022, British NGO Hope Not Hate warned: “Many young students returning to school at the end of the summer holidays will have seen something produced by Andrew Tate.” In 2023, even after charges, teachers are still alarmed about his influence, according to The Guardian.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

A 2023 survey by Hope Not Hate found that 45% of British men aged 16-24 had a positive view of him (versus 1% of girls) and that 80% of 16-17-year-olds had viewed his content, according to the Independent. “Tate’s targeting of young men has had a direct negative impact on young women as his ideas are carried by young men both on and offline,” the organization said.

Image: Cobratate/Twitter

Tate and his brother Tristan Tate were detained by authorities in Romania again in 2024 after the UK issued arrest warrants against them.

The BBC reports that the allegations against the brothers have to do with s e x u a l aggression and exploiting people in Great Britain, according to the Romanian police statement. They were both presented to the prosecutor, who ordered their detention for 24 hours. They denied the charges.

According to the Guardain, Bedfordshire police said they had been granted the warrant by authorities in Romania, but would have to wait until proceedings there are completed.

In August 2024, the bothers were placed on house arrest once again. They were also slapped with new allegations of s e x with a minor and trafficking underage persons, according to the BBC.

Although Romanian authorities stress that the lifting of the travel ban does not mean the charges were dropped, the decision raised concerns that they were under pressure from the Trump administration, according to the BBC, with one top Romanian politician expressing her outrage.

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