The 38-year-old dual U.S.-British citizen and his 36-year-old brother Tristan — who were both charged with human trafficking in Romania — landed in South Florida from the eastern European country last week after prosecutors reportedly lifted their travel restrictions.
On Tuesday afternoon, days after Gov. Ron DeSantis said the pair is not welcome in Florida, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that the state has opened a criminal investigation into the Tate brothers.
Uthmeier said that the Tate brothers have "themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world," noting that some of the victims coming forward are minors.
Florida Attorney General @JamesUthmeierFL says he's opened criminal investigation of Tate brothers, @Cobratate & @TateTheTalisman:
— Forrest Saunders (@FBSaunders) March 4, 2025
"These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women..." pic.twitter.com/FYIfbDKCBu
"People can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it," Uthmeier told reporters. "They chose to come here and set their feet down in this state, and we’re going to pursue every tool we have within our legal authority to hold them accountable."
Until now, the Tate brothers had remained in Romania pending their trial on charges including human trafficking and organized crime, which Romanian prosecutors brought against them in June 2023.
Among other allegations, the BBC reported that Andrew Tate (who notoriously believes that women belong at home, can't drive, and are a man's property) is accused of striking a woman during a sexual encounter and telling a victim, "Shut up you whore, you will do as I say," when she refused his plan for group sex. Tristan Tate, on the other hand, allegedly declared he was going to "slave these bitches" in reference to the brothers' OnlyFans operation.
Uthmeier said that as of Tuesday, the state had secured and executed subpoenas and warrants and will "continue to move forward with full force of law."
"What I can tell you is, if these guys did criminal activity here in Florida, we will go after them with the full force of law and hold them accountable," Uthmeier said.
This notably follows Tate's appearance on the PBD Podcast on Monday, in which he said he was disappointed in DeSantis.
"I don’t know why Ron’s answer wasn’t, 'He has an American passport. The judicial system in Romania, which I know absolutely nothing about, decided to let him fly, and he’s flown to his home country. As far as we’re concerned, he’s broken no laws,'" Tate said. "Instead, what he did was say, ‘We’re going to get our attorney general to try and find some laws he’s broken and wreck this man who’s done nothing inside of the United States ever.'"
On Tuesday evening, Tate responded to Uthmeier's announcement in a series of misspelled posts on X (formerly Twitter).
"I didn’t commit any crime and they’re trying to find one because they don’t like me," Tate wrote in one post. "This is exactly what they did to president Trump."
Roughly an hour later, he claimed that DeSantis was "attacking" him because "he was worried I would support Byron Donalds over his wife, knowing I have monumental political weight, and trust our commander and chief President Trumps reccomendations completely."
Ron DeSantis is attacking me because he was worried I would support Byron Donalds over his wife, knowing I have monumental political weight, and trust our commander and chief President Trumps reccomendations completely.
— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) March 5, 2025
They attacked me to prevent me from destroying his wifes…
"They attacked me to prevent me from destroying his wifes political ambitions. Interestingly, I had no interest in Floridian politics untill I learnt how communist the DeSantis admin is," Tate wrote. "The game is on."
This is a breaking story and will be updated as events warrant.
