Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday that his office is opening up a criminal investigation into right-wing “manosphere” influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, who are both facing rape and human trafficking allegations in Romania.
Uthmeier said the criminal investigation launched a week after his office worked with law enforcement to review evidence gathered from a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate, 38 and 36 respectively, theofficial wrote on X. The brothers, who are now under criminal investigation in both Florida and Romania, landed in Fort Lauderdale last Thursday.
“Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers,” Uthmeier said.
Andrew Tate rose to fame in the 2000s as a professional kickboxer in the United Kingdom. The self-proclaimed misogynist later cultivated a large online following by creating anti-women content disguised as self-help for young men, also known as red pill content. He was banned from multiple social media platforms in 2022.
That same year, Andrew Tate and his brother, who are both dual U.S.-U.K. citizens, were arrested in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking in that country. Romanian authorities indicted the brothers in 2023, accusing them of forming a criminal gang to exploit women. Andrew Tate and his brother denied all allegations of sexual misconduct in criminal investigations and civil courts.
The Tate brothers’ attorney, Joseph McBride, shared a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “Uthmeier threw ethics law out of the window when he publicly took a side in” an ongoing legal battle between the brothers and a Florida woman accusing them of sex trafficking her.
McBride also called Uthmeier’s statement “inflammatory” and “biased.”
In December, a Romanian court ruled that the Tates’ case there could not go to trial due to multiple irregularities by the prosecutors, but left the case open, according to reports by The Associated Press.
The Romanian government lifted international travel restrictions last Thursday, following pressure from the Trump administration,the Financial Times reported. Trump, however, denied being involved in the Tate brother’s travel plans.
The brothers arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last Thursday, but received an unwelcoming greeting from theRepublican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who told reporters,“Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct.”