Overview
- The brothers were arrested in Miami by U.S. Marshals on Saturday and remain in federal custody after a brief magistrate appearance in Miami federal court on Monday.
- Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service added 38 charges after receiving a file from Bedfordshire Police, bringing the total to 59 charges that include rape, trafficking and offenses involving indecent images and naming seven alleged victims.
- Their lawyer said they will object to extradition and called the arrests politically motivated, while the Justice Department said the arrests were approved by leadership of its Criminal Division.
- If a federal judge finds them extraditable the court will certify the case to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who makes the final surrender decision, and the next U.S. court status hearing is set for July 27.
- The case deepens a yearslong, multijurisdictional legal saga that includes prior Romanian investigations and U.S. civil suits and raises political scrutiny because of the brothers’ large online influence and ties to Trump family figures.