MIAMI — Andrew and Tristan Tate, the “manosphere” influencers accused of sex crimes in the United Kingdom, told a judge Thursday that they’re not actually outrageous online personalities in real life.
The claim came during an all-day hearing that concluded Thursday night with no decision about whether the brothers, who are dual American and U.K. citizens, should be eligible for bail as they fight extradition on charges of rape, sex trafficking and other crimes.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis said she would issue a written ruling.
The Tates have denied the allegations. During Thursday’s hearing, their attorneys argued that the brothers should be released so they can defend themselves in Romania, where they face separate criminal charges that they have also denied.
Prosecutors described the brothers as flight risks who exaggerate, lie under oath and should remain behind bars.
Andrew Tate took the witness stand Thursday afternoon and denied being a rapist or a human trafficker. He described the proceedings as his “last chance.”
“If there’s any court in the world that will listen to me,” he testified, “it will be an American court.”
Earlier, Tristan Tate told the judge that he was testifying against the advice of his defense attorneys and compared his and his brother’s online personas to actor Sacha Baron Cohen, the famed British Jewish comic best known for playing journalist Borat Sagdiyev.
At one point, when Assistant U.S. Attorney Abbie Waxman asked Tristan Tate whether he was a liar, he responded, “I play a character, no more than any actor.”
Tristan Tate said he spends his days locked in a 5-by-11-foot cell that has a bunk bed, a toilet and unwanted roommates. He said that he’d been subjected to chemical attacks and that his daily diet consists mostly of candy and chips.
“It’s death by scurvy instead of death by starvation.”
The brothers, shackled and wearing beige jail garb Thursday, were taken into custody in Miami in July after prosecutors in the U.K. filed new charges.
Defense lawyer Howard Srebnick argued that his clients are not flight risks and that they have appeared “each and every time” for court dates in the U.K. and Romania.
The pair have been unfairly cast as monsters for the internet “characters” they play, Srebnick said.
Andrew Tate’s social media personality as “Top G” uses “foul language, speaks in vulgarities, advocates positions that are in many ways outrageous,” Srebnick conceded.
But that internet personality “is not the real Andrew Tate — that is not the person Andrew Tate. That is the character,” Srebnick said.
At the bail hearing, Andrew Tate’s girlfriend testified to his character.
Natasha Sesay said that she has known Andrew Tate for about 5½ years and they have a child who is 8½ months old and another one due in a month.
“It’s a very different character from the person you see online versus the one I know personally,” Sesay told the court. “He’s a great father to his children.”
Defense attorney Joe McBride has denied the allegations and said the brothers’ incarceration was the “result of an unholy alliance between the enemies of free speech in the United States and the United Kingdom.”
McBride told the court Thursday that his clients are “running to the fight,” calling them “two innocent men who have shown up” in multiple jurisdictions to “face the music” and to “go on the offense.”
“Innocent men don’t run. They lean into the process,” McBride added.
Prosecutors in the U.K. had argued against their release, saying in a filing this month that the men’s own statements suggest they intended to evade justice.
The filing also alleged that they might seek to interfere with witnesses and that the brothers repeatedly sought the names of their accusers from prosecutors in exchange for a “security” fee worth tens of thousands of pounds and a promise not to publicly identify the accusers.
The Crown Prosecution Service declined the offer to safeguard the complainants, the filing says.
McBride said the filing “drips falsehood from every page.”
Andrew Tate, 39, a former professional kickboxer, built a vast online following espousing misogynistic and hypermasculine views. He once told an interviewer that there was “no way you can be rooted in reality and not be sexist.”
British prosecutors initially charged the Tates with 21 counts of rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and arranging or facilitating travel for sexual exploitation. Andrew Tate was also charged with controlling prostitution.
The additional charges filed last month against Andrew Tate include seven counts of rape, 15 counts of making or distributing indecent images of children and four counts of possession of extreme pornography.
Tristan Tate, 38, was charged with six additional counts of rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.
U.K. authorities said the alleged crimes took place from 2010 to 2017.
The brothers also face criminal charges in Romania, where they reportedly moved in 2016 to build an online porn business and were later indicted on allegations of forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, trafficking of minors and money laundering. They have denied the charges.
Juliette Arcodia reported from Miami, Tim Stelloh from San Francisco and David K. Li from New York City.
