Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate en route to Romania after weeks in the US

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were en route Friday from the U.S. to Romania, where they face charges of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

The Tates, who are dual U.S. and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges that they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were allegedly sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny all of the allegations against them.

In a post on his X social media account Friday, Andrew Tate said: "Spending 185,000 dollars on a private jet across the Atlantic to sign one single piece of paper in Romania. Innocent men don't run. THEY CLEAR THEIR NAME IN COURT."

Their return to Romania comes nearly a month after a travel ban imposed on the brothers was lifted, after which they flew on a private jet to the U.S., landing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The brothers remain under judicial control, which requires them to appear before judicial authorities in Romania when summoned. Eugen Vidineac, one of the Tate brothers' lawyers in Romania, told The Associated Press that the Tates are due to check in with a surveillance officer on Monday.

The Tate brothers are expected to issue press statements around 1 a.m. local time (2300 GMT) outside their residence near the capital, Bucharest, according to their spokesperson Mateea Petrescu.

Days after the Tates arrived in the U.S., on March 4, Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office had opened a criminal investigation into Andrew and Tristan Tate. He said in a social media post that he directed his office to work with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the brothers.

A day after the investigation was opened, Andrew Tate said in a post on X: "I didn't commit any crime and they're trying to find one because they don't like me.”

The lifting of their two-year travel ban came after a Bucharest court in December ruled that a case against the brothers could not go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors. The case, however, remained open.

Last August, Romania's anti-organized crime agency DIICOT also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.

Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him.

The Tate brothers' legal battles are not limited to Romania.

Four British women who accused Andrew Tate of sexual violence and physical abuse are suing him in the U.K. after the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him.

In March last year, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after U.K. authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to the period from 2012 to 2015.

The appeals court granted the U.K. request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.