A prominent women’s justice organization launched a campaign on Thursday to have the accused rapist and human trafficker Andrew Tate extradited from the US.
The group, UltraViolet, also attacked the Trump administration for reportedly influencing Romanian officials to allow Tate to fly to Florida last month.
Volunteers from the group put up “Unwanted in Miami” posters, in Spanish and English, and featuring Tate’s face and a QR code linking to details of the alleged crimes of him and his brother Tristan, around the city.
They also hosted a lunchtime press conference in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami, where the pair are believed to be staying.
“Tate is a misogynistic influencer who has talked about raping women on camera and reportedly makes money teaching other men how to sexually traffic women,” UltraViolet’s campaign director, Rosa Valderrama, said.
“For an administration claiming to protect women, bringing a sexual predator to the streets of Miami is hypocritical, reckless and dangerous.”
The Tate brothers arrived in Florida on 27 February on a flight from Bucharest, where they face trial on charges of rape, sex with a minor, people trafficking and money laundering. They had been in jail and on house arrest for more than two years.
Prosecutors in Romania suspended a travel ban, and a court lifted a precautionary seizure on some of their assets, following reports that US special envoy Richard Grenell, a Donald Trump acolyte, raised their case with Romania’s foreign minister, Emil Hurezeanu, at the Munich Security Conference earlier in the month.
The brothers are under criminal investigation in Florida, where the state attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced a collaboration “with our law enforcement and partners around the world to fight human trafficking and sexual abuse”.
They are also wanted in the UK, where authorities filed an extradition request over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to 2012, but were told that would not happen until the conclusion of the legal case in Romania.
Under the terms of their release, Andrew, 38, and Tristan, 36, must return to Bucharest before the end of the month.
The White House has denied knowledge of the circumstances of the arrival in the US of the Tates, who are dual American and UK citizens. But Andrew Tate was complimentary when reporters in Florida asked earlier this month if the president was involved.
“Trump is such a boss, he is such a gangster,” he said.
On Thursday, Valderrama criticized Trump’s presumed hand in proceedings.
“The Trump administration wants to portray itself as a protector of women. But their work to bring Andrew Tate back to the streets of the US reveals the administration’s true values and priorities,” she said. “Trump does not care about protecting women.”
UltraViolet, which helped expose convicted the sexual predators Harvey Weinstein, R Kelly and Bill O’Reilly, also launched a website linking to a petition urging US attorney general Pam Bondi, a close ally of Trump, to extradite the Tates to the UK. The group said the petition, which was launched earlier this month, already had more than 10,000 signatures.
The Tate brothers have consistently denied all the charges and allegations against them, and Andrew Tate has made Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who said their brand of toxic masculinity was not welcome in his state, a target of vitriol to his 10.9 million followers on X.
Their attorney, Joseph McBride, told the Guardian in a statement this month: “The Florida ‘criminal investigation’ is a weak attempt by a lame-duck governor to hold on to power and an unknown attorney general aiming to build his reputation.
“The Tate brothers are law-abiding citizens who will fully comply with the conditions of their release in Romania.
The Florida state attorney’s office has not responded to an inquiry about the status of the investigation.
A recent episode of Andrew Tate’s internet-based reality series Tate Confidential features the brothers frolicking, posturing and smoking cigars by the pool of a Miami mansion.
Last week the streaming service Spotify removed an Andrew Tate podcast after complaints from users, including an online petition signed by more than 92,000 people.
The broadcast, titled pimping hoes, and part of Tate’s “degree course” on “how to get girls fast and easy”, was taken down for breaching the company’s policies.
In one part of the removed podcast, Tate said the “reason the sexual marketplace is so fucked is because there’s too many women out there who get attention without giving sex”.