The Tate brothers, who recently traveled to the United States while facing human trafficking and sex -related charges in Romania, may now be under federal criminal investigation in the United States, according to a new civil lawsuit filing.
The filing, made in Palm Beach County, Florida, on behalf of four anonymous defendants being sued by Andrew and Tristan Tate, seeks to pause a civil defamation case “until the United States federal investigation and/or prosecution by the Department of Justice for the Southern District of New York of Andrew and Tristan Tate has concluded.”
If accurate, the revelation of a federal investigation in the United States would be a new chapter in the brothers’ ongoing legal sagas, which spans two continents.
Danielle Pinter, an attorney at the National Center on Child Exploitation, filed the motion. Pinter did not immediately respond to questions or a request for comment.
Joseph McBride, attorney for the Tate brothers, downplayed the significance of the motion, characterizing it as “pathetic delay tactics by a group of weak lawyers running from a fight in the Florida Defamation Case, because they know the evidence is overwhelmingly on our side.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.
The Tate brothers were arrested in 2022 near Bucharest, Romania’s capital, along with two Romanian women. Romania prosecutors indicted all four last year.
According to Romanian authorities, Andrew and Tristan Tate are under criminal investigation of allegations of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors and money laundering. They have denied any wrongdoing.
In 2023, the Tate brothers filed a defamation suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court against people they claim provided false evidence to Romanian authorities and conspired to deceive officials to have them wrongfully imprisoned.
The brothers’ recent trip to the United States has led to new allegations. As first reported by NBC News, a woman has accused Andrew Tate of a violent sexual encounter at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Andrew and Tristan Tate, dual U.S.-British citizens who are both former kickboxers, are frequently linked to the “manosphere” — an online movement that promotes male dominance and challenges feminist ideas. They have been widely criticized for espousing views seen as emblematic of toxic masculinity and misogyny.
