Alleged Andrew Tate victims call for his extradition to UK after US flight
Tate, alongside his brother Tristan, flew to Florida on Thursday after a travel ban was lifted.
Alleged victims of controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate have called for his extradition from the United States to face justice in the UK.
Tate, alongside his brother Tristan, flew from Bucharest to Florida on Thursday after a travel ban, imposed on the pair during a human trafficking investigation, was lifted.
Four women, who claim they were subjected to sexual violence by Tate between 2013 and 2015, have urged the Home Secretary to request his extradition in order not to fail “all British victims”.
The Tate brothers are due to be extradited to the UK following the conclusion of proceedings in Romania, after Bedfordshire Police secured a European arrest warrant for further separate allegations of rape and human trafficking involving different women.
Those allegations, which the two brothers “unequivocally deny”, date back to 2012-2015.
In Romania, the Tate brothers are facing allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.
A separate case against them, in which they are accused of human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, has been sent back to prosecutors.
The four women who have called for Tate’s extradition are bringing a civil case against him at the High Court in the UK, after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to prosecute in 2019.
Three of the British accusers were the subject of an investigation by Hertfordshire Constabulary.
The Hertfordshire investigation was closed in 2019.
In their statement, the women said: “We urge the UK Government to immediately request Tate’s extradition from the US to the UK to face justice.
“If it doesn’t, it won’t just be us it will be failing, but all British victims of alleged sexual violence.
“We do not doubt the Home Secretary’s personal commitment to victims of sexual violence, but we need action, not words.”
The Trump administration reportedly pressed the Romanian government to lift travel restrictions on the brothers earlier this month.
In a statement issued on Thursday, a spokesperson for the brothers said six cars and five properties had been returned, but some assets remained under “precautionary seizure”.
Romania’s anti-organised crime agency, DIICOT, said prosecutors had approved a “request to modify the obligation preventing the defendants from leaving Romania”.
DIICOT’s statement said: “The defendants have been warned that deliberately violating these obligations may result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure.”
