Russell Brand is said to have moved to the US after claiming he is being “attacked” by British prosecutors.
The comedian has been accused of sexual assaults against four women between 2006 and 2013 when he was at the height of his fame, but has not been charged. He has also been interviewed by police three times under caution.
Brand has denied all allegations, insisting his sexual relationships were "absolutely always consensual".
Now, the 49-year-old has uprooted his wife Laura Gallacher, 37, and their three children from their Oxfordshire home to a new residence in Florida, sparking legal questions over his future in the UK.
“I don't live in the United Kingdom any more because I personally have experienced how the media, government and judiciary - if you suddenly become an inconvenience - will find ways to attack and shut you down,” he said on video platform Rumble.
A BBC review into Brand’s conduct found this week that a number "felt unable to raise" concerns about the presenter and believed he "would always get his way”.
The Crown Prosecution Service is now reviewing a case, and Brand’s move to the US could complicate matters if charges are brought.
“The UK will, as a matter of policy, extradite its own nationals, providing no bars to extradition apply,” government guidance states.
It is standard practice for the Crown Prosecution Service to submit an extradition request to the US State Department via the British Embassy in Washington.
However, the process has been complex in the past, most notably in the lengthy legal battle over Abu Hamza al-Masri’s extradition.
Since his rise to fame through BBC and Channel 4 shows, which led to Hollywood stardom and a short-lived marriage to Katy Perry in the early 2010s, Brand has increasingly focused on activism and promoting conspiracy theories online.
His Rumble and YouTube accounts have a large following among right wing sympathisers, with Brand often peddling anti-Keir Starmer and pro-Donald Trump views despite previously endorsing Labour. In 2015 Brand had called for people not to vote at all.
Having attended Donald Trump’s inauguration, Brand could find that the president may become an ally in helping any potential extradition cause - although the Republican has not made any comment either way. Mr Trump previously weighed in to demand ASAP Rocky’s released by Swedish authorities when facing charges in 2019.
Brand had initially supported Robert F Kennedy Jr’s independent presidential run before switching to endorse Mr Trump.
“If you care about freedom, I don’t know how you could do anything other than vote for Donald Trump, for precisely the reasons that they claim you can’t,” he said online.
