By Luc Cohen
MIAMI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate sought to persuade a U.S. judge on Thursday that they were playing characters online when they made crude, outlandish statements, as they seek release on bail from a Miami jail.
The Tate brothers were arrested in Miami on July 18 after Britain requested their extradition to face charges of rape, assault and facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation. The Tate brothers, who have dual U.S. and British citizenship,
have denied any wrongdoing.
The former kickboxers have built a large online following promoting their views on masculinity and wealth. Andrew Tate, 39, has previously described himself as a misogynist.
On the witness stand, Andrew Tate said he stopped saying "stupid things" on the internet when he was first arrested in Romania about five years ago. The brothers face human trafficking charges in Romania.
"Top G is a caricature," Tate said, referring to an online moniker that he called a "hyperbolic character."
"I do this to shake men out of apathy," Tate said.
Tristan Tate, 38, testified he and his brother played characters online to help their posts gain traction.
"It’s his flamboyant, outlandish, sometimes crude comedy that makes him go viral," Tristan Tate testified, referring to his brother. "He’s the only person in the world who is judged by a character that he plays."
It was unclear if the strategy would succeed in persuading U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis that they would not pose a danger to the community or pose a flight risk if released. Prosecutors say there is a strong presumption in favor of detention in extradition cases.
At the hearing, the brothers were shackled at the feet, wore beige prison garb and sported beards.
The arrests marked a new phase in their legal troubles. The Tates recruited dozens of women to work for a webcam pornography business starting in 2014, and later ran online courses called "Hustler's University," prosecutors with the Miami U.S. Attorney's office said in an August 10 court filing.
ANDREW TATE'S ROMANTIC PARTNER TESTIFIES
Earlier on Thursday, the mother of one of Andrew Tate's children, Natasha Sesay, said his sometimes provocative comments online did not reflect who he truly was.
"It’s a very different character between the person that you see online and the person I know," said Sesay, who is expecting another one of Andrew Tate's children next month.
On cross-examination by federal prosecutor Abbie Waxman, Sesay acknowledged that Andrew Tate paid for her home in Dubai as well as luxury bags, shoes and jewelry.
Prosecutors have also pointed to Romanian authorities' allegations that they sought to influence witnesses' statements while released on judicial supervision there. Romanian authorities say the Tates threatened to release private information about alleged victims and bribed an alleged victim, the U.S. prosecutors said.
Thomas Maniotis, defense lawyer, said the witnesses the Tates were alleged to have bribed were women who wanted to speak on their behalf, and said the Tates helped coordinate their travel to Bucharest and hired lawyers for them.
The defense lawyers proposed that Louis release them on the conditions they post bond, surrender their passports and submit to location monitoring.
BRITISH CHARGES SPAN SEVEN YEARS
The legal process for determining whether the Tate brothers may be extradited could take months. Britain has until September 16 to submit its full extradition request to the State Department, U.S. court records show.
The impetus for the brothers' arrests in Miami was new charges brought by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service relating to alleged offenses involving four alleged victims between July 2010 and August 2017.
They had previously faced rape and human trafficking charges in Britain related to three alleged victims, the CPS said. A British judge issued a warrant for their arrests in 2024. They have not appeared in British court to enter a plea to those charges.
Britain is seeking to extradite the brothers to face both sets of charges.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in MiamiEditing by Rod Nickel and Nick Zieminski)
