Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate will fight extradition to the United Kingdom where the brothers are accused of rape and sex trafficking, their lawyer said Monday, suggesting their arrest in Miami was politically motivated without explaining why.
The Tets appeared in federal court Monday for the first time since they were arrested Saturday and are in federal custody. In the coming weeks, a US District Judge will consider whether they meet the conditions for extradition. US Magistrate Lauren Lewis scheduled another hearing for Monday, July 27.
The two brothers, who are usually photographed in tailored suits and shirts, wore prison uniforms and handcuffs during the brief hearing. Neither brother said a single word during the session.
Their lawyer, Joseph McBride, insisted that they must remain in the United States
“We of course object to extradition because Andrew and Tristan are innocent,” McBride said after the hearing. “They did absolutely nothing wrong. They should not be extradited for crimes they did not commit.”
McBride said the two brothers were surprised when they were arrested, adding that the attempt to extradite them was politically motivated. “There’s no doubt about that,” he told reporters.
He pointed out that the Teets case “has a lot to do” with former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to step down, without providing any details, and said that it was not a coincidence that the brothers were arrested after meeting “with friends in Washington, D.C.”
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“We went to see members of Congress in D.C. and now we’re getting arrested. This seems political,” McBride said. He did not specify who the couple met with or what was discussed.
McBride said on Sunday he was confident the extradition request would be denied.
Prosecutors in Britain said that the new charges related to four new victims and were brought after the authorities received evidence from Bedfordshire Police in southeast England. The allegations, which span from 2010 to 2017, include rape, assault, human trafficking and offenses relating to “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography”.
McBride said none of the latest accused have been identified, adding, “We would like to know who accused Andrew and Tristan of what.”
The brothers already face charges of rape, physical abuse, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain relating to three other alleged victims in the UK between 2012 and 2015.
Their lawyer said in a statement Saturday that he believes the arrests “were given the green light by a low-level employee” at the Justice Department without input from leadership. The Justice Department told The Associated Press that the arrests were made with the approval of the criminal division leadership.
The new allegations are the latest in a long-running international legal saga involving the Tets family that has spanned the United States, Britain and Romania. The brothers have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Their social media empire that promotes wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities.
The American and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022 on charges of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied these allegations and the Romanian case did not go ahead due to legal and procedural problems.
Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and fly to Florida.
The former professional kickboxers have millions of followers on social media and are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump.
Andrew Tate, 39, first became known a decade ago when he was a contestant on the British reality TV show Big Brother. He was fired from the show when a video surfaced of him assaulting a woman.
He has amassed more than 10 million followers on X but has been banned from other platforms for violating hate speech guidelines, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. He has made widely condemned comments, such as saying that women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for the attacks and sharing graphic descriptions of how women are attacked.
The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, claiming that their violent and misogynistic statements were taken out of context or were intended as a joke.
Associated Press reporters Alana Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C., and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.
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