Tate brothers to fight UK extradition on trafficking charges

Final extradition decision rests with Secretary of State Rubio

Andrew and Tristan Tate are fighting extradition to the United Kingdom on charges that include rape, assault, trafficking and other offenses in southeastern England, according to the Associated Press. Defense attorney Joseph McBride said the brothers “shouldn’t be extradited for crimes they did not commit.”

The charges stem from alleged offenses between 2010 and 2017. The U.S. has a treaty allowing it to honor a UK extradition request if the alleged crimes would also be considered illegal in the United States.

Jacques Semmelman, a New York-based extradition lawyer at the firm Katten Muchin Rosenman, said the process heavily favors the requesting government. “The government holds all the cards in an extradition proceeding because the rules of evidence allow the government to submit any evidence they wish,” Semmelman said. “It is very hard for the defense to defeat an extradition.”

A federal judge will review arrest warrants, investigative documents and other information submitted by the U.S. government to show there was a “reasonable basis” to file charges in the UK, according to the treaty. The hearing would not be similar to a trial, Semmelman said.

Semmelman said a partial victory — a reduction in the charges eligible for extradition — is possible, but an across-the-board defeat of the request is rare. “A partial victory might mean a reduction in the charges to be extradited upon,” he said. “An across-the-board victory — no extradition — is very difficult to achieve.”

If the judge finds the UK has met the threshold, the brothers could pursue appeals, a process that could last years. The U.S. has honored UK extradition requests on more than 20 occasions since 2020, according to the UK Parliament.

If extradition is approved and appeals are exhausted, the final decision rests with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has wide discretion. “In most cases the secretary of state will sign the warrant of extradition,” Semmelman said.

Some extradition requests have failed in the U.S. In 2015, a judge said there was insufficient evidence to show that an art dealer knew that an 18th-century painting taken from a Polish museum by the Nazis during World War II was stolen property when he inherited it. In 2020, during President Donald Trump’s first administration, the government declined to turn over an American woman who fatally struck a young man while driving in eastern England. Anne Sacoolas, who was the wife of a U.S. intelligence officer, subsequently returned to the U.S. and later admitted responsibility in a UK court by video.