Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate are pictured inside the Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on Dec. 10, 2024.
Daniel Mihailescu/AFP via Getty Images
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A federal judge in Miami heard directly from Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan on Thursday, as they asked to be released on bail from a detention center in Miami.
The prominent figures in the "manosphere," who were arrested last month, are fighting extradition to the U.K., where they face a total of 59 criminal charges, including rape and human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The brothers deny all allegations.
Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis said she would issue a written order on the issue of bail after the detention hearing, which lasted into the early evening.
Both Tate brothers chose to take the stand to testify on their own behalf.
"That is highly unusual," one of their attorneys, Joe McBride, told reporters after a marathon, 8-hour hearing. He added, "Innocent men don't run from the process. Innocent men have nothing to hide. Innocent men lean into it."
Prosecutors argued that the Tates are dangerous and pose a flight risk. The brothers said their case has special circumstances, citing their repeated returns to Romania — where they also face charges that they deny — to check in with authorities. Their attorneys also said the brothers' online personas, which boast about being wealthy and using private jets and multiple passports, are a type of performance, not proof of a crime.
The Tates were arrested on July 18. The hearing on their detention release request was held on Thursday at the C. Clyde Atkins U.S. Courthouse in Miami. Andrew Tate, 39, and Tristan, 38, are being held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami — a prison across the street from the courthouse.
Ahead of the hearing, legal experts told NPR that it was unlikely that the Tates would win their freedom on bail — a difficult prospect in any international extradition case, according to legal experts and federal agencies.
"We are, of course, objecting to extradition because Andrew and Tristan are innocent" of the charges, their longtime attorney, McBride, said after an initial hearing on July 20.
The British charges span from 2010 to 2017, a period in which Andrew Tate grew wealthy from a webcam porn business and then pivoted to becoming a social media influencer in the "manosphere" space, with millions of online followers.
McBride says the charges against the Tates are politically motivated and an attempt to limit their free speech.
The Tate brothers also deny trafficking charges leveled by Romanian prosecutors. The Tates lived in Romania until last February, when authorities lifted a travel ban on the pair. The U.K. previously sought their extradition from that country, but a Bucharest court ruled the British request should wait until the Romanian case is resolved.
"Under current U.S. law and practice, it is extremely rare that an extradition judge will release on bail a person sought in international extradition," according to the State Department. It adds that only a narrow set of circumstances might lead to bail, such as a defendant suffering from a serious medical condition that can't be treated in jail.
Shaul Brazil, a partner at BCL Solicitors in London who is vice chair of the International Bar Association's criminal law committee, notes that every case is unique. But he also says that while in criminal cases there is normally a presumption in favor of bail, the starting point for an extradition case is different.
