Andrew and Tristan Tate, prominent influencers in the so-called manosphere, were arrested by federal marshals in Miami on Saturday in connection with new criminal charges of rape and sex trafficking in England, U.S. and British law enforcement officials said.
Prosecutors in Britain said that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition.
The Tates, who have British and American citizenship, were detained “pending ongoing legal proceedings,” according to a statement from the police in Bedfordshire, a county north of London.
British prosecutors had previously charged the brothers with rape, human trafficking and sexual assault. The new charges stem from alleged offenses involving four women that took place between July 2010 and August 2017, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement on Sunday after the arrests.
British prosecutors said the new charges against Andrew Tate, 39, include seven counts of rape; three counts of sex trafficking; three counts of assault; and 19 more charges relating to sexual images of children and “extreme pornography.”
Tristan Tate, 38, faces two new charges of rape; one count of sexual assault; and three counts of sex trafficking.
They were arrested with a sealed warrant, Brady McCarron, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said in a statement.
Joseph D. McBride, an attorney for the Tate brothers, said in a statement posted on social media on Saturday that they “are innocent.” The Tates have long denied all criminal allegations against them.
The brothers, who have cultivated a large following of young men by preaching brazen masculinity and have made a fortune from online pornography, have faced criminal investigations in three countries.
In Romania, where the Tates previously lived, prosecutors have been investigating allegations that they coerced dozens of women, including a 17-year-old girl, into pornography. They have also investigated Andrew Tate over allegations that he raped one of the women and had sex with a 15-year-old.
Romanian prosecutors had barred the brothers from leaving the country while investigations there continue, but last year they agreed to lift the travel restrictions. The move was the culmination of a yearslong effort by Andrew Tate to forge alliances with President Trump’s advisers and family members, a Times investigation found.
In the United States, Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced an investigation into the brothers last March after their arrival there. The Times investigation found that anti-trafficking agents at the Department of Homeland Security had been investigating them for years.
In his statement, Mr. McBride accused the authorities in Britain of carrying out a “political hit.” He said that a defamation lawsuit that the brothers had brought against an alleged victim in the Romanian criminal investigation would clear their names.
“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,” Mr. McBride said.
Since the travel restrictions against them in Romania were lifted, the brothers have resumed their jet-setting lifestyle, though they have not returned to Britain. Andrew Tate had been advertised as a co-host for a bare-knuckle boxing event on Saturday night in downtown Miami.
Their arrest on Saturday signaled active efforts by British authorities to extradite the brothers, even without a clear resolution to the cases in Romania.
The Crown Prosecution Service said that the decision to file new charges came after it received new evidence from police in Bedfordshire. The police there said that the charges related to reports of offenses in Bedfordshire and neighboring Hertfordshire County.
“There is no place for male violence against women and girls in Bedfordshire and we continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us,” the county police said in the statement.
In March, Hertfordshire police reopened an investigation into sex-crime allegations against Andrew Tate, which had been brought in 2015 by three women who separately accused him of sexual assault. The three women, and a fourth, were also suing him at the High Court in London over the allegations.
Prosecutors in Britain have withheld the names of the accusers in the criminal case from the Tates, citing the brothers’ notoriety and the need to protect the accusers’ well-being. The Tates have argued that the decision violates their legal rights and filed a challenge seeking to have the names revealed to them. A judge last month declined their bid.
Maia Spoto contributed reporting.