Andrew Tate, the social media influencer who boasts about being a misogynist and is facing human trafficking charges abroad, is visiting the U.S. for the first time in years after Romanian prosecutors removed his travel restrictions late last month.
Mr. Tate, 38, was seen at the UFC 313 fight in Las Vegas last weekend where he was greeted by the organization’s head man, Dana White. He also attended a pre-fight press conference Monday in Los Angeles where boxers Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia traded verbal jabs.
Mr. Tate is an avid supporter of President Trump, and has appeared on pro-Trump podcasts during his U.S. trip, including one hosted by Patrick Bet-David and another hosted by twin brothers Keith and Kevin Hodge.
Mr. Tate and his brother, 36-year-old Tristan, had not been able to visit the U.S. since they were arrested in Romania in late 2022. The brothers, who live in Bucharest, are dual U.S.-British citizens.
The Financial Times reported that the Trump administration had a hand in getting Romania to remove its travel restrictions on the duo.
Prosecutors charged the Tate brothers with running an organized crime ring where they are accused of trafficking, sexually exploiting and assaulting women. The alleged victims hail from the U.S., Britain and Romania, and Mr. Tate has been charged with raping one of the women.
Romanian authorities are also investigating the brothers on allegations of sexually trafficking minors.
The brothers are being criminally investigated in the U.K. and the U.S. as well, after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said this month he was launching a preliminary criminal inquiry.
Mr. Uthmeier said the Sunshine State has no tolerance for “people who abuse women and girls,” but has been mum on the specifics of the case.
Mr. Tate’s charges stem from a lucrative pornographic webcam business he and his brother ran.
On a now-deleted page from his website, Mr. Tate said his job was to seduce a woman, “get her to fall in love with me … and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together.”
He advertised the webcam business model as the “PHD Program,” or a “Pimping Hoes Degree.”
According to court documents, the female victims contend they were forced to be in the pornographic videos.
Mr. Tate has maintained his innocence in the face of the criminal investigations.
“I think my brother and I are largely misunderstood,” Mr. Tate told reporters after landing at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport earlier this month. “There’s a lot of opinions about us — all the things that go around about us on the internet. It’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, as my brother and I are.”
A former professional kickboxer, Mr. Tate made a name for himself outside the ring on the U.K.-based reality show “Big Brother” in 2016. He was removed from the program after video emerged of him hitting a woman with a belt.
After the show, Mr. Tate attained a massive social media following, mostly among teens and young men.
But Mr. Tate’s controversial points of view — such as saying women bear some responsibility for being raped and that there’s “no way you can be rooted in reality and not be sexist” — earned him bans on nearly all major social media platforms.
Mr. Tate has also talked openly about beating women. He said in a 2022 podcast he broke a woman’s jaw during a bar fight but avoided any legal consequences.
His Twitter account was reinstated after billionaire tech magnate Elon Musk purchased the website in 2022.
The internet star’s preachings have also caught the attention of prosecutors in unrelated cases.
U.K. authorities on Tuesday said Mr. Tate’s “violent misogyny” motivated a 26-year-old man’s triple killing last year of his ex-girlfriend, her sister and the girls’ mother. Prosecutors said the killer, Kyle Clifford, looked up Mr. Tate’s podcast the day before he carried out his attack.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.