Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate used a “lover boy” model to lure women with the promise of romantic relationships before coercing them to create online pornography, British law enforcement said in court documents made public on Monday in the US.
In the most comprehensive description of the British criminal case against the brothers to date, a British detective said the basis of the prosecutors’ case was that the brothers encouraged women to travel to their base in Romania with the promise of romantic relationships, before using violence and threats to manipulate them into creating porn.
The Tate brothers, who have dual US and British citizenship, were arrested in Miami in July after Britain requested their extradition from the US. The brothers have not appeared in a British court to formally answer to the charges they face, which include rape and human trafficking, but they have denied wrongdoing. Joseph McBride, a lawyer for the Tate brothers, said the accusations could not be “meaningfully tested” because Britain had not disclosed the names of the accusers to the defence. “No American court should be asked to surrender a person to a foreign country on the word of secret accusers,” McBride said in a statement.
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The arrests of Andrew Tate, 39, and Tristan Tate, 38, marked a new phase in the legal troubles for the former kickboxers, who have built a large online following promoting their views on masculinity and wealth. Andrew Tate has previously described himself as a misogynist.
The British embassy in Washington last month sent the US a series of documents in support of its extradition requests. Those documents included summaries of the cases against the brothers written by a detective with the Bedfordshire Police. According to the summary, Andrew Tate persuaded vulnerable women he had formed relationships with to relocate to Romania by telling them they could earn money by taking part in his webcam business. Once they arrived, the women became financially dependent on the Tate brothers, who often confiscated their passports, the summary read.
“The prosecution case is that Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate used and threatened physical and sexual violence in order to maintain control and compliance,” the summary read.
The Tate brothers have been jailed in Miami since their arrests. US Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis on Thursday asked their lawyers to propose dates for their final extradition hearings, but no date has been set. The brothers have also been under investigation since 2022 in Romania on charges including human trafficking.
Source: Khaleej Times