Influencer Andrew Tate can be extradited to U.K. after Romanian trial, court rules
Tate and his brother, Tristan, were detained Monday on a U.K. arrest warrant.
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A Romanian court on Tuesday granted a request by British authorities to extradite controversial influencer Andrew Tate.
The extradition process can happen only after separate legal proceedings against Tate in Romania have concluded, the Associated Press reported. Tate and his brother, Tristan, were previously charged in a Romanian case with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The decision came after the brothers were detained in Romania on Monday on an arrest warrant, issued by British authorities, on allegations of sexual aggression in a U.K. court case from 2012 to 2015.
The brothers are dual U.K. and U.S. citizens and reportedly moved to Romania in 2017 because they assumed they’d have more freedom in the country.
The Tates’ spokesperson Mateea Petrescu told the AP that the brothers “express profound disappointment that such serious allegations are being resurrected without substantial new evidence.”
📝 Who is Andrew Tate?
A self-proclaimed misogynist, Andrew Tate, 37, rose to fame in 2016 after he was removed from the U.K. version of the reality TV show Big Brother. At the time, a video had been circulating that allegedly showed Tate physically attacking a woman.
Over the years, numerous social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have banned Tate for his “hateful ideology.” He was initially banned from X in 2017 for saying that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted but has since been reinstated on the platform and has almost 9 million followers.
Tate has also spoken out against COVID lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
💰 How do Andrew and Tristan Tate make money?
In addition to his online persona, Andrew Tate also had a kickboxing career from 2008 until his retirement in 2014. Both brothers have claimed since 2012 that they worked together to run a webcam business that features lingerie-clad models available to chat with men online.
In 2019, Andrew Tate advertised “War Room,” a “global network” that offers to teach men “physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial development” for an annual fee of $8,000. A BBC investigation found that messages exchanged in the War Room group between March 2019 and April 2020 “appear to detail techniques on how to groom women into sex work.”
In 2022, Andrew Tate also founded Hustlers University. He advertised it as “an online educational platform that teaches you skills and strategies and encourages you to achieve financial freedom and live your dream life” for a monthly fee of $49. It was later rebranded as “The Real World.”
👮 The Tate brothers’ arrest history
In late December 2022, the brothers were detained in Romania, along with two other women, on the Romanian police’s suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group.
In January 2023, Andrew Tate appeared in a Bucharest court to appeal his detention, but the judge ruled against him. In March of that year, Andrew Tate won an appeal that let him be put under house arrest instead of detention.
In June 2023, both brothers were formally charged with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. A month later, the brothers launched a lawsuit against a woman in Florida who they claim falsely accused them of imprisoning her in Romania, seeking at least $5 million.
In January 2024, Andrew Tate regained access to his assets after the court overturned the decision to seize his cars, designer watches and properties.
📱 Andrew Tate’s influence
In early March, U.K. politicians shared their plans to fight Andrew Tate’s influence in schools through specific training — although experts considered it “likely doomed to fail,” according to Business Insider.
Teachers have told the outlet in the past that children as young as 11 have said that they see Andrew Tate as a “god” and that the algorithms make Tate’s controversial opinions all the more inescapable for social media users.
Read more from Salon about the power of misogynistic influence, like Tate’s, on social media here.
Tate has also been credited with inspiring other online public figures, including the video game streamer Adin Ross — who infamously streamed an interview with Tate and a Kim Jong Un impersonator — and the self-proclaimed “anti-feminist” YouTuber Pearl Davis.
