Controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are travelling to the United States after leaving Romania, where they face charges of rape, trafficking minors, and money laundering, all of which they deny.

Questions remain about why they were allowed to travel and what happens next with their legal cases.

Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are dual US-UK citizens who claim to have made millions from their social media empire.

Their online output was controversial even before their legal troubles, with the pair attracting frequent criticism over statements about women.

UK authorities have linked Andrew Tate to the radicalisation of young men in a 2024 report on violence against women and girls.

The brothers were first arrested in Romania in 2022. They face separate, unrelated charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania and the UK. Both brothers deny the charges.

The brothers had been under a travel ban in Romania for more than two years while they were under investigation.

Speculation that they would leave Romania had been mounting ahead of their journey, after the pair went quiet on social media.

They left from a Bucharest airport at around 03:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on a private jet bound for Florida, sources have told the BBC.

Prosecutors said the travel ban had been lifted, and the pair’s US passports had been returned to them, but investigations into their alleged crimes have not been dropped.

The Tates are popular figures in the US, and we are awaiting comments from them and the Trump administration regarding their journey.

Earlier in February, some of Andrew Tate’s alleged victims said they were “extremely concerned” by reports that US officials had asked for his travel restrictions to be relaxed.

This came after US special envoy Richard Grenell raised the Tate brothers with Romania’s Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu at the Munich Security Conference.

Emil Hurezeanu said he did not consider Grennell’s approach as a “form of pressure”. Grenell told the Financial Times that his support for the brothers was evident.

The Tates have been vocal supporters of US President Donald Trump, and close adviser Elon Musk restored Andrew Tate’s account on X when he bought the social media platform in 2022.

The cases against the Tate brothers in Romania are being rewritten by prosecutors who allowed them to leave on the condition that they return – possibly by the end of March.

While their request to leave the country was accepted, their request for the charges against them to be dropped was rejected.

Separate civil and criminal legal cases brought against the Tates in both Romania and the UK are ongoing.

Four women are bringing a civil case against Andrew Tate in the UK High Court for damages related to alleged assaults.

Matthew Jury, a lawyer representing the four women, told the BBC that the US administration is “interfering with due process in Romania and the UK”.