Arriving in Florida, Andrew Tate Told the Press He and His Brother Are "Largely Misunderstood"
"We’ve yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever," said Andrew Tate.
Published Feb. 27 2025, 4:18 p.m. ET
Even though President Donald Trump has pledged to rid the United States of immigrants who are supposedly breaking the law, that hasn't stopped him from importing two United States citizens who are facing criminal charges elsewhere. In June 2023, Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were charged with "rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to exploit women," by law enforcement in Romania, per the Associated Press.
The Tate brothers were born and partially raised in America before moving to England in 1997 when Andrew was 11 and Tristan was 9. Both are former kickboxers who gained some fame after dipping their toes into the world of reality television. They rose to infamy in the manosphere due to their various misogynistic online ventures. Though the case in Romania is still active, in February 2025 they were able to leave in order to travel to Florida. Here's what we know.
How did the Tate brothers leave Romania?
According to NBC News, a travel ban against the Tate brothers was lifted, allowing them to hop on a private jet to Florida. They landed in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 27, 2025, and told the press they were "largely misunderstood." Andrew went on to say, "There’s a lot of opinions about us that go around on the internet. We’ve yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever. We have no criminal record anywhere on the planet."
Joseph McBride, the Tate brothers' U.S.-based attorney, did not comment on whether or not the White House or State Department were involved in lifting a travel ban. When asked about it, President Trump said he was not aware of this issue but was going to look into it. The White House and State Department also declined to comment.
One person who did have a problem with this is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said in a news conference that he found out about the Tate brothers' arrival via the media. DeSantis said he was working with Florida's attorney general, James Uthmeier, to look at their options but was confident this would be left up to the federal government to decide. The governor did say, "Florida is not a place where you're welcome with that type of conduct."
An American woman countersued the Tate brothers and filed in a Florida court.
A little over two weeks before the Tate brothers landed in Florida, an American woman countersued them in a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court in Florida, per NBC News. In the defamation suit, she claimed Andrew and Tristan Tate defamed her after she provided testimony to Romanian authorities.
The woman, known as Jane Doe, said she countersued the Tate brothers after they sued her for defamation in 2023. In that lawsuit, Andrew and Tristan alleged that Doe and another woman fabricated evidence and conspired against them in order to "defraud and falsely imprison" them. Dani Pinter, Doe's lawyer, said, "Andrew and Tristan Tate have worked to ruin her life by suing her and her parents — an abuse of the legal system and blatant witness intimidation."
A Zoom hearing regarding the defamation suit filed by the Tate brothers was scheduled for the day they arrived in Florida. Their attorney said that was merely a coincidence.