Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested in the US as British authorities seek their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges.
The brothers' social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarising internet personalities.
The pair was taken into custody by the US Marshals Service on Saturday on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press, placing the United States at the centre of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain.
British prosecutors announced on Saturday they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.
The dual US and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016.
They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations and the case didn’t go forward because of legal and procedural irregularities.
The brothers are expected to appear in Miami’s federal court early next week.
The pending charges in the United Kingdom accused the brothers of abusing women in an area north of London, where they grew up. Their lawyers had said they denied the allegations.
Joseph McBride, a lawyer representing the Tate brothers, said in a phone interview he had not been able to speak with his clients but called the new charges out of the UK “filth and slander” intended to derail defamation lawsuits filed by the brothers in the US.
“They’re pulling out all the stops to make sure these guys never get their day in court,” McBride said.
“We are confident that once a competent judge sees the facts, and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free. America does not do Britain’s political dirty work."
Andrew Tate, 39, first reached a mainstream audience as a contestant on the UK reality television show Big Brother in 2016. He was removed from the show when a video surfaced that appeared to show Tate assaulting a woman. He and his 38-year-old brother are vocal supporters of US President Donald Trump.
Andrew Tate has amassed over 10 million followers on X but has been banned from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate speech guidelines.
His most widely condemned rhetoric includes comments that women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for their attacks, graphic descriptions of how he might attack women and criticisms of people who seek treatment for mental illness.
The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, claiming that violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.
with PA
