MIAMI — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested Saturday in Miami after British authorities sought their extradition on rape and human trafficking charges, U.S. and British officials said.
The U.S. Marshals Service took the brothers into custody on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press.
British prosecutors announced Saturday that they are seeking the extradition of the brothers on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.
Andrew Tate, 39, and Tristan Tate, 38, hold U.S. and British citizenship. They moved to Romania in 2016 and were arrested there in 2022 on allegations that they participated in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. Romanian authorities did not move forward with the case after identifying legal and procedural irregularities. The brothers denied the allegations.
The Tate brothers are expected to appear in federal court in Miami early next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation remains ongoing.
The charges filed in the United Kingdom allege the brothers abused women in an area north of London where they grew up. Their lawyers said they deny the allegations.
Joseph McBride, an attorney representing the brothers, said he had not yet spoken with his clients following their arrests. He described the U.K. charges as an attempt to interfere with defamation lawsuits the brothers have filed in the United States.
Andrew Tate first gained public attention as a contestant on the British television program “Big Brother” in 2016 before leaving the show after a video surfaced that appeared to show him assaulting a woman.
He later built a large online following through content promoting wealth and male dominance. Several social media platforms, including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, banned his accounts for violating hate speech policies, while his account on X remains active.
The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, maintaining that statements criticized as misogynistic were taken out of context or intended as jokes.