Infamous social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate — known for promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny — appeared in Miami federal court on Monday afternoon to face new rape and related sex-trafficking charges brought by British authorities in an extradition request to transfer them to the United Kingdom.

Attorneys for the Tate brothers, with dual U.S.-British citizenship, told Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis that they will request a bond hearing and plan to contest the U.K.’s extradition petition, which is pending. Louis set a hearing for next Monday to schedule a bond hearing and dates for filing briefs for the looming extradition battle.

While it is likely the judge will order their detention under the terms of a treaty, the brothers’ extradition hearing is expected to be hotly contested, with their defense attorney battling prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. Since their arrest on Saturday, the brothers have been held at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.

In court Monday, the Tates’ team of defense lawyers made it clear they will contest their extradition to the U.K. Outside the federal courthouse, the lead defense attorney, Joseph McBride, told news media the charges against the brothers are “politically motivated” and that they’re innocent. He described them as “citizens of the world,” as they have roamed the globe from England to Romania to Florida.

Whatever the outcome of the extradition dispute, the brothers are assembling a robust defense, including not only New York-based McBride but also high-profile Miami defense lawyer Howard Srebnick and his partner Jackie Perczek, along with attorney Stephen Binhak.

The brothers were arrested on Saturday outside the James L. Knight Center in the heart of Miami, with video showing them being handcuffed and carted off by federal agents in the latest chapter of their year-long stay in South Florida. The arrests occurred before a bare-knuckle boxing event at the Knight Center, 400 SE Second Ave., that Andrew was going to co-host.

The U.S. Marshals Service in South Florida arrested the brothers, who’ve received billions of views online, on a sealed warrant, the agency said. The U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Service announced it would be pursuing new charges against the pair for rapes that allegedly occurred between July 2010 and August 2017.

Andrew, 39, is facing seven new counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and 19 additional charges for offenses relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.

Tristan, 38, is facing one new count of sexual assault, two counts of rape and three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.

“These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven,” said Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Special Crime Division at the Crown Prosecution Service.

U.K. authorities had previously charged the brothers with 21 charges after allegations from 2012.

History of trouble in South Florida

The Tate brothers, dual U.S. and British citizens, were arrested in Romania in 2022 in connection to an investigation of sexual exploitation. However, during that case, which eventually fell through, they were allowed to leave the country last year.

Within hours, Andrew and Tristan flew on a private jet from Bucharest to Fort Lauderdale.

President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis both said at the time they were in the dark on the brothers’ spontaneous destination decision.

DeSantis verbally rebuffed their arrival, saying, “Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct. … I don’t know how it came to this.”

In March of last year, Florida’s attorney general said his office opened a criminal investigation into the Tate brothers. Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on social media that he directed his office to work with law enforcement to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the Tate brothers.

“Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers,” Uthmeier said.

At last year, UltraViolet, a gender-justice organization, launched a campaign online and with posters hung through Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood marking Andrew as “Unwanted in Miami.”

They branded him a “sexual predator imported to the U.S. by President Donald Trump.”

In January, the brothers made headlines when a viral video showed the pair partying with influencers Nick Fuentes, Clavicular, Sneako, Myron Gaines and Justin Waller, blasting Kanye West’s controversial song “Heil Hitler,” inside Miami Beach’s Vendôme nightclub.

The Greater Miami Jewish Federation condemned the actions, three employees were fired, and the nightclub apologized for the “deeply offensive and unacceptable” actions.

Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist with more than 10 million follows on X, has been banned from platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate-speech guidelines.

The Tate brothers, both former kickboxers, are known to be avid Trump supporters.

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