Florida Opens Criminal Investigation Into Andrew Tate

AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a criminal investigation into accused human traffickers Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate on Tuesday after a Romanian travel ban was lifted on the controversial influencers.

After the Tate brothers landed in Florida last week amid an ongoing Romanian human trafficking investigation, Uthmeier announced that “an active criminal investigation” had been opened into the two men.

“Look, these guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” said Uthmeier, who served as chief of staff to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis until just last month. “Many of these victims coming forward, some of them minors.”

He continued:

You know, people can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. We’re not gonna accept it. They chose to come here and set their feet down in this state, and we’re gonna pursue every tool we have within our legal authority to hold them accountable. So we are in the process today, we have secured and executed subpoenas and warrants, and we’re gonna continue to move forward with full force of law. This is an ongoing criminal investigation and we’re gonna use every tool we have to ensure that justice is served.

Gov. DeSantis hinted at a criminal investigation into the Tate brothers last week after he responded to their landing in Florida with a warning that they were not welcome.

“Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct,” warned DeSantis, to which Andrew Tate shot back with a message of his own.

“I don’t know why Ron’s answer wasn’t [like], ‘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,'” protested Tate, who is accused of rape in addition to human trafficking. “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.'”

DeSantis appointed Uthmeier as Florida attorney general last month to fill in the vacancy left by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s resignation. Prior to this, Uthmeier served as DeSantis’s chief of staff for more than three years and worked as the campaign manager of DeSantis’ failed 2024 presidential campaign.