Three darkly seared ribeye steaks weighing several pounds arrived on a white platter at an upscale restaurant in Bucharest, Romania. The small table was crowded with bottles of sparkling San Pellegrino and fancy saucières filled with every sauce and condiment on offer.
In a heavily edited video, Tristan Tate methodically cut through and ate all three 400-gram steaks in what the men said was five minutes, took a break for a cigarette, then polished off his friend’s steak, too saying he felt “like dessert.”
The scene, from a 2024 episode of controversial social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate’s series, “Tate Confidential,” captured how the brothers turned even lunch into online theater built around wealth and excess.
Now the siblings splurge on Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos and Snickers bars from a federal prison in Miami where they’re being held pending an extradition request from the United Kingdom. The men have not yet entered formal pleas to the sex crime charges they’re facing but have previously denied the allegations.
In their social media videos, the brothers sometimes used food as a way to demonstrate that ordinary constraints of prices, portions and restraint seemingly did not apply to them, much as they have other social laws. Commissary receipts released by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida show the brothers also bought items including ramen noodle soup, turkey and Swiss combo sticks, Twix bars and Colombian coffee.
The snacks don’t appear to be enough to satiate Tristan, whose attorney posted on social media a handwritten note from the inmate saying in part, “I’m hungry.”
The brothers’ previous extravagant displays of dining at exclusive restaurants was one part of a much larger sales pitch. The Tates built an online empire by selling an image of extraordinary personal wealth through displays of sports cars, stacks of cash and luxury watches.
Andrew Tate, 39, a self-proclaimed misogynist, has racked up masses of online supporters with content promoting male dominance, female submission and wealth. Tristan Tate, 38, has built a following by creating and promoting a similar take on modern masculinity.
The brothers are pillars of the so-called “manosphere,” a digital space traditionally associated with the alt-right and hate and populated by overtly misogynist podcasters and influencers.
Yet behind the spectacle, the biggest symbols of their supposedly limitless riches were a facade to make their lives appear better than reality, according to the brothers’ own lawyers.
Their legal team said it was in the business interests of the Tates to portray themselves as “uber-wealthy,” in a recent court filing and offered an unusually candid explanation of how the illusion of affluence was manufactured.
Defense lawyers acknowledged that the $2.1 million Aston Martin and $5 million and $7 million Bugatti sports cars featured in Tristan’s videos were not actually owned by the brothers as they claimed but rented. They also said the pair was paid to promote a “superyacht” they had presented online as their own luxury vessel.
Instead of being whisked away by sports cars and speedboats, the pair currently rely on only their feet for transportation, walking from their prison cells along a secure, windowless pedestrian walkway to reach a courtroom for legal proceedings. Nowadays, their escorts are uniformed marshals rather than beautiful women in bikinis.
For years, the British American brothers cultivated the image that laws did not apply to them even as legal troubles mounted in the UK, Romania and the US. Andrew made defiance of institutions and conventional rules central to his brand, declaring he was “above the law.”
That image of impunity shattered on July 18, when US Marshals arrested the brothers outside a bare-knuckle boxing match in Miami on an extradition request from British authorities.
The brothers, among the internet’s most polarizing figures, face a combined 59 charges, including rape and human trafficking. Each has repeatedly denied the allegations, with Andrew describing himself and his brother as “very innocent men.”
The UK case involves seven victims. Andrew Tate faces 42 charges and Tristan Tate 17, according to prosecutors. Among the additional counts against Andrew are allegations of making or distributing indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography.
Neither Andrew nor Tristan has formally answered the charges in court, but each has publicly denied all wrongdoing.
In the separate case in Romania, the pair are facing charges of human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group to sexually exploit women. They have also repeatedly rejected the allegations made against them in that case.
The charges concern alleged acts, not online rhetoric. But the allegations of sexual violence, control over women and profiting from them echo the Tate brothers’ male-dominance worldview promoted through their online courses, including a since-deleted one called “Pimping Hoes Degree.”
British prosecutors have until September 16 to submit their formal extradition request to the US and provide supporting material covering all 59 charges, which relate to offenses in England between 2010 and 2017.
The Tates’ attorney, Joe McBride, has dismissed the additional charges as “filth and slander,” insisted the brothers are innocent and vowed to fight extradition. He has called the case “politically motivated,” saying the brothers were being punished for exercising their First Amendment rights.
The former kickboxers are being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, a concrete tower with narrow vertical windows. Detainees have long complained about harsh conditions, including faulty cooling and water systems.
The Bureau of Prisons said earlier this month it had repaired a faulty AC chiller. Detainees had said they were left without air conditioning during some of Miami’s hottest days.
Despite a ban on mobile phones at FDC Miami, Andrew’s X account has remained active while he has been in custody. His lawyers described it in a court filing as a “business account” that members of his team have continued to update on his behalf.
Posts from Andrew’s account make FDC Miami after dark sound more like a horror film than a prison. One post described a “demonic roar” erupting from a nearby cell at night. Another said his neighbor was “a cannibal who screams throughout the night.”
“I’m not too big on sleep and I function great without it,” Andrew previously said in an interview discussing his sleep habits.
As the brothers grow accustomed to the new sleeping venue, they are also dressing much differently. Online, Andrew and Tristan showcased tailored suits, luxury watches and designer shoes.
In recent years, Andrew also began regularly appearing shirtless in videos, often with a cigar in hand and dark shades, as he lectured viewers about strength, discipline and male dominance, his tattooed bare chest a visual shorthand for the hypermasculine brand he was selling.
But when marshals arrested him in Miami, he was sporting a silky purple shirt open at the chest, tight black cropped pants and slip-on loafers without socks. His appearance was widely ridiculed online, with one viral meme comparing the look with a screenshot from “The Golden Girls” depicting Blanche Devereaux in a nearly identical outfit.
When the brothers arrived in court two days later, the jewel tones were ditched, and each wore a drab tan prison jumpsuit. In place of diamond-encrusted necklaces, they wore gleaming shackles around their ankles. Instead of gold watches, silver handcuffs encircled their wrists.
Andrew has repeatedly complained about his cell being in the Special Housing Unit, which he describes as “the worst possible conditions the US gov provides to terrorists and psychopaths,” in posts on his X account.
McBride told CNN that his clients “don’t have access to sunlight” and that is harming their health. He said the Tate brothers shouldn’t be in what he has called “solitary confinement” at the prison; but instead moved out of the segregated area to the general population.
Another post from Andrew’s X account read: “No commissary. No visits. No contact with the outside world.”
Although they are being held in separate cells on their own, the brothers are not entirely isolated. McBride said Andrew and Tristan see one another regularly because they share the same team of attorneys and attend regular legal meetings together, sometimes up to five hours a day, even though they have not been permitted visits from family or friends.
The US Attorney’s Office rejected the Tates’ claims about lack of commissary access and poor prison conditions, saying, “while FDC Miami is not a Marriott, the TATES’ conditions of confinement are reasonable, constitutional, and within BOP’s discretion.”
The Tates are set to return to federal court on Thursday when Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis is expected to consider their request to be released on bail while they fight extradition.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Holmes Lybrand, Kristen Holmes, Sophie Tanno and Carolina Peguero contributed to this report.