A British court ruled on Wednesday that police can seize more than 2.6 million pounds ($3.3 million) to cover years of unpaid taxes from influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan.
Devon and Cornwall Police Force went to court to claim the money, held in seven frozen bank accounts, from the Tates family and a woman identified only as J.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Chief Justice Paul Goldspring ruled that financial transactions carried out by the brothers, including the transfer of nearly $12 million into an account in Gee’s name, amounted to “direct fraud” to tax authorities.
The Tates were “serial” tax evaders and failed to pay any tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses, including War Room, Hustlers’ University, Cobra Tate and OnlyFans, between 2014 and 2022, the force’s lawyer said.
Andrew Tate (38 years old) accused the government of “outright theft” for freezing his accounts and confiscating “everything they could.”
“This is not justice; “It is a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system,” Tate said in a statement. “This raises serious questions about the lengths to which the authorities will go to silence dissent.”
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At a hearing in July, barrister Sarah Clarke quoted a video posted online by Andrew Tate, in which he said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay taxes.”
She said J – who cannot be named due to a court order – was not involved in the brothers’ business.
The brothers’ lawyer, Martin Evans, said bank transfers were “quite traditional” for people running online businesses. He said the siblings spent money on a number of “exotic cars” but did nothing illegal.
The proceedings are civil, which requires a lower standard of proof than criminal cases. Goldspring had to decide on the balance of probabilities whether the Tates had evaded taxes.
An estimated total of £2,683,345.88 (about $3.4 million) is held in the seven accounts that police can now seize, court documents show.
Andrew Tate is a former kickboxer and dual British-American citizen who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X. He was banned from TikTok, YouTube and Facebook after the platforms accused him of spreading hate speech and misogynistic comments.
He and Tristan Tate, 36, face criminal charges in Romania, including human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women. They are due to be extradited to the UK once these proceedings are over to face further allegations of rape and human trafficking.
The Teets deny all of these accusations.
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Associated Press writers Brian Meili in London and Stephen McGrath in Warwick, England, contributed to this story.
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