The Telegraph understands that Brand, 49, has not been arrested and was informed through legal documents sent in the post that he had been charged with the offences. He is currently on bail awaiting his first appearance at court.
Responding to the charges in a video posted on X, Brand said he had “never engaged in non-consensual activity”.
Stating that there was “so little trust in the British Government”, he said: “The levels of corruption are unprecedented. I’m talking specifically to you in the UK.
“How do you feel about your legal system right now? Some of the high-profile cases that are not being pursued and prosecuted. How do you feel that the Southport murders were handled, the Government of Keir Starmer.”
He added: “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile. But what I never was was a rapist. I pray you can see that by looking in my eyes.
“I’m now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court and I’m incredibly grateful for that.”
Investigation began in 2023
Detectives began an investigation into Brand in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations following an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Sunday Times newspaper.
Brand is charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in the Bournemouth area and the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in 2004 in the Westminster area of London.
He has also been charged with indecently assaulting a woman in 2001 and sexually assaulting another woman between 2004 and 2005, both alleged to have taken place in Westminster, London.
Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open, and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police. A dedicated team of investigators is available via email at CIT@met.police.uk.”
Jaswant Narwal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said on Friday UK time: “We have today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge Russell Brand with a number of sexual offences.
“We carefully reviewed the evidence after a police investigation into allegations made following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary in September 2023.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendant has the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
The move from UK to US
Earlier this year, Brand said he had relocated to the US with his family.
In a video explaining his reasons for living abroad, he said: “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 was last seen on Wednesday at a music event hosted by Brandon Lake, an American Christian singer, at the Riviera Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina.
Brand has also been accused of sexually assaulting a female extra in New York during the filming of Arthur, a romantic comedy, in 2010, which he denies.
In a motion filed in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday, Mark Cuccaro, the lawyer representing Brand in his US sexual assault case, called for the US civil case to be put on hold while awaiting the outcome of a criminal investigation into alleged sexual offences in the UK.
He wrote: “Mr Brand has been interviewed on three occasions in 2023 and 2024 by the Metropolitan Police in London concerning these allegations.
“While there is no fixed timetable in place, it is considered likely that a decision on whether to charge Mr Brand or not in the criminal investigation may be made before the end of this year … If a decision to charge Mr Brand is made, he expects that a criminal trial will occur within one year to 18 months of that decision.”
The Telegraph has contacted Cuccaro for comment.
Brand faces potentially lengthy extradition proceedings in the US if he refuses to comply with the order to appear before Westminster magistrates’ court on May 2 and remains in the country.
Before moving to the US, he lived in a £3.3 million ($7.6 million) house on the banks of the Thames with his wife Laura Gallacher, 37, and their three children.
Although an extradition treaty has existed between the US and the UK since 2007, there have been few extraditions over the past 18 years.
Between 2007 and 2020, the UK surrendered 135 British nationals to the US, 99 of them for non-violent alleged offences. During the same period, the US surrendered only 11 people.
The UK will, as a matter of policy, extradite its own nationals providing that no bars to extradition apply, Home Office guidance states.
It is standard practice for the Crown Prosecution Service to submit an extradition request to the US State Department, headed by Marco Rubio, via the British Embassy in Washington.
Brand has frequently praised Donald Trump, the US President, in videos on his social media platform and was seen attending his inauguration in January.
On his podcast, titled Stay Free with Russell Brand, last year, he said: “In a straight choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, if you care about democracy, 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 that you can’t.”
