Controversial social media personalities Andrew and Tristan Tate have been taken into custody in Miami by U.S. Marshals, after Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) brought 38 new criminal charges against the pair, launching a formal push to extradite them from the United States to the United Kingdom to face trial.
The brothers, dual British-U.S. citizens who rose to global fame and notoriety through their polarizing social media content, have repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing against them. They are scheduled to make their first appearance at a U.S. federal court this week as the extradition process moves forward.
Andrew Tate, 39, first entered the public spotlight in 2016 as a contestant on the U.K. edition of the reality show *Big Brother*, where he was removed after just six days following the leak of a video appearing to show him assaulting a woman. Tate has long maintained the footage was selectively edited and fabricated to damage his reputation. A former professional kickboxer, he has since built a massive global online following, currently boasting more than 10 million followers on X (formerly Twitter). He became infamous for his openly misogynistic views, which got him banned from multiple major social media platforms for several years, though he has since been reinstated on X. He often flaunts an ultra-luxury lifestyle of private jets, high-end sports cars and yachts across his online content. Tristan Tate, 37, Andrew’s younger brother, has frequently appeared alongside his sibling in public and online content.
Details of the new charges released by the CPS on Sunday show Andrew Tate faces seven additional counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and 19 charges linked to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography. Tristan Tate faces two new counts of rape, one count of sexual assault, and three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation. The alleged offenses are said to have occurred between July 2010 and August 2017. Combined with charges brought by the CPS last year, Andrew Tate now faces a total of 42 charges in the U.K., while Tristan Tate faces 17 total charges.
Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division, confirmed the new charging decision came after investigators received an additional evidence file from Bedfordshire Police, bringing the total number of alleged victims in the case to seven.
The brothers have primarily been based in Romania since rising to fame, where they remain active in an ongoing local criminal investigation into similar allegations. In 2024, Bedfordshire Police obtained European arrest warrants for the pair, which will allow them to be extradited to the U.K. once Romanian legal proceedings conclude. Early this year, Romanian authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed on the brothers, allowing them to travel to the United States.
A U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed the Saturday arrests were carried out in compliance with ongoing extradition proceedings. The U.K. and U.S. are bound by an extradition treaty that allows for the transfer of individuals accused of offenses that carry a minimum one-year prison sentence under both countries’ laws. Under the formal process, the CPS drafts the extradition request, which is first certified by a U.K. judge, reviewed and approved by the Home Office, then sent through official diplomatic channels to the U.S. Once received, the request undergoes judicial review in U.S. courts, and a final extradition decision rests with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Joseph McBride, the lead attorney representing the Tate brothers, announced the pair would appear in court first thing Monday U.S. time. In a public statement posted to X shortly after the arrests, McBride insisted the brothers are innocent, and claimed the new U.K. charges amount to a political hit job targeting the pair. He further alleged the charges were filed to disrupt a defamation lawsuit the Tates have filed in the U.S. against their accusers. “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,” McBride wrote. “America does not do Britain’s political dirty work.”