Last week, Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate were “released” from Romanian custody and allowed to fly to Florida. The Tate brothers are British and American dual citizens, but they spent years operating a human trafficking operation out of their compound in Romania. In that compound, they raped and assaulted women and girls and even filmed many of their crimes. Romanian authorities reportedly had a really solid case against the Tates. Then the Trump administration threw their weight around and somehow got the Tates on a plane. I’m no fan of Florida’s Governor Ron “Meatball” DeSantis, but even Meatball Ron was furious that the Trump administration allowed two violent predators to fly back stateside. So, DeSantis and Florida’s Attorney General are throwing their weight around too.
Florida has launched a criminal investigation into British-American influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who flew to the state last week from Romania, where they faced rape and human-trafficking charges.
Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, said investigators have issued search warrants and subpoenas as part of a “now-active” inquiry.
In the US, the brothers also face a civil suit from a woman alleging they coerced her into sex work, and then defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian authorities. They strongly deny all the allegations against them.
Andrew, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, face separate charges in the UK of rape and human trafficking. They deny those allegations too.
Uthmeier, a Republican, said in Tuesday’s statement: “Last week, I directed my office to work with our law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate. 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.”
Andrew Tate called the state investigation “absolute communism” on social media. Which… is this communism? No. It’s a state investigation into a notorious human trafficker and violent psychopath. There is nothing in this situation which would indicate it’s any kind of “communism,” absolute or otherwise. Also: Florida is actually not where the Tates want to be under investigation for trafficking, Florida has some of the harshest penalties for trafficking out of all the states. Florida lawmakers are currently trying to make trafficking a death-penalty felony.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
