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A lawyer representing Andrew and Tristan Tate said the brothers will fight extradition to the United Kingdom, where they are accused by British authorities of rape, sex trafficking, assault and other offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.
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The pair, who were arrested in Miami on Saturday, appeared in a United States federal court on Monday wearing jail uniforms and handcuffs. They remained silent during the brief hearing as a judge scheduled a further hearing for 27 July. A district judge will decide whether the legal conditions for extradition have been met.
Their lawyer, Joseph McBride, said the brothers would oppose being sent to the UK, insisting they were innocent and arguing the extradition request was politically motivated. He did not provide evidence for the claim, but suggested it was linked to recent political events in Britain and to meetings the brothers held in Washington before their arrest.
“We are of course objecting to extradition because Andrew and Tristan are innocent,” McBride told reporters after the hearing. “They’ve never done nothing wrong. They shouldn’t be extradited for crimes they did not commit.”
Court documents unsealed on Monday set out allegations made by three women. One woman accuses Tristan Tate of rape and assault during a long-term relationship beginning in 2012, including alleged assaults while she was unconscious. Two other women accuse Andrew Tate of rape and assault in incidents dating from 2014 and 2015 after meeting him through a webcam business and a dating app.
Since their arrest by the US Marshals Service, British prosecutors have announced a separate set of charges against the Tate brothers involving four additional alleged victims. The allegations, dating between 2010 and 2017, include rape, assault, human trafficking and offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography. McBride said the defence had not been told the identities of the latest complainants.
The former kickboxers, who built a vast online following through videos promoting luxury lifestyles and misogynistic views on women, have become some of the internet’s most divisive personalities.
The US Justice Department confirmed that the arrests were authorised by senior leadership in its Criminal Division after McBride claimed they had been approved by a lower-ranking official without senior oversight.
Additional sources • AP