The influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate will remain in custody as their lawyers told a court on Monday that they plan to fight extradition to England to face charges of rape, sex trafficking and pornography, including charges related to indecent images of a child.
According to federal court complaints unsealed on Monday, British officials have accused both brothers of choking women, sometimes until they passed out, and then raping them.
The Tates appeared in federal court after marshals arrested them on Saturday at a bare-knuckle boxing event in downtown Miami. The two wore tan jail jumpsuits and shackles, speaking only to acknowledge that they had read court documents pertaining to their case.
Their attorney, Joseph McBride, told reporters after the hearing that the charges were politically motivated. “Andrew and Tristan are innocent,” he said, calling the allegations against them “garbage.”
The Tates have hired the high-profile South Florida law firm of Roy Black to fight the extradition. The attorneys will convene before a magistrate judge in one week to discuss scheduling a hearing to decide whether the brothers will remain in detention while they fight extradition.
According to information provided to U.S. officials by the British government, the latest charges stem from incidents involving four women that occurred between July 2010 and August 2017.
Andrew Tate is facing seven counts of rape, three counts of sex trafficking, three counts of assault and 19 more charges relating to “indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.”
In a complaint unsealed on Monday, U.S. prosecutors outlined detailed allegations made by their counterparts in Britain against Andrew Tate involving two victims.
The document said he repeatedly placed one woman, a webcam performer, in chokeholds until she passed out, then raped her, during an alleged attack at her home in Bedford, England, in 2015.
Another woman alleged that she had consensual sex with Andrew Tate in July 2014, according to the complaint. On another occasion, he visited her home in Manchester, England, and choked her to the point that “she was afraid Tate was going to kill her,” the complaint said.
Tristan Tate is facing one count of sexual assault, two counts of rape and three counts of sex trafficking.
The unsealed complaint against Tristan Tate alleged that he regularly choked, beat and raped a woman with whom he was in a romantic relationship in 2012 and 2013. She told authorities that he regularly choked her to unconsciousness, gave her a black eye and whipped her with a belt on multiple occasions, causing welts and bruises, the complaint said.
The brothers are prominent figures in the so-called manosphere, where they preach hyper-masculinity and misogynistic views to legions of perpetually online young men. They have amassed a fortune from online pornography and self-help courses.
They have also faced criminal investigations in three countries. The Tates have long denied the allegations against them. They have sued one of their accusers for defamation in a Florida court, and Mr. McBride has said that case would clear their names.
Dani Pinter, chief legal officer at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which is representing the woman whom the brothers sued, on Monday welcomed the arrest. She added that the woman and her family had been “victims of a campaign of harassment and witness intimidation.”
In all, prosecutors in the United Kingdom have brought 59 charges against the brothers. British law enforcement officials had previously charged them with rape and human trafficking in relation to incidents involving three women between 2012 and 2015.
The brothers have also been investigated in Romania for coercing dozens of women into pornography, including a 17-year-old. Andrew is also accused of rape and of having sex with and beating a 15-year-old. That case remains unresolved.
The brothers, who have citizenship in both the United States and the United Kingdom, have not returned to Britain since Romanian prosecutors lifted travel restrictions last year — the culmination of yearslong effort by Andrew Tate to forge alliances with President Trump’s advisers and family members, a New York Times investigation found. Britain’s Home Office referred questions about the extradition to British prosecutors.
In Florida, the state attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced an investigation into the brothers last year, but no state charges have been brought. Anti-trafficking agents at the Department of Homeland Security have also opened an investigation into the Tate brothers, according to the Times investigation.
The scene outside the Miami courthouse on Monday was relatively subdued, highlighted by a sole male supporter wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and holding a cardboard sign calling the Tates heroes.