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London — A UK court ruled Wednesday that police can seize the equivalent of $3.3 million in frozen financial assets from of Andrew Tate’s misogynistic social media influence and his brother Tristan to cover years of unpaid taxes.
The money was in seven bank accounts, frozen by British authorities, belonging to Tate, who previously lived in the UK, his brother Tristan and a woman identified by British authorities only as J.
Chief Justice Paul Goldspring at Westminster Magistrates’ Court said in his ruling on Wednesday that the transactions carried out by the brothers, including transfers of almost $12 million to Ju, were a “simple fraud” to avoid the tax authorities.
Lawyers for Devon and Cornwall Police claimed Tate and his brother were serial tax evaders who failed to pay tax on around $26.5 million in income from their internet business.
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According to the French news agency AFP, lawyer Sarah Clarke, who represented the police, quoted during the proceedings a video posted online by Tate, in which he said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay taxes.”
Tate protested the verdict, accusing the government of “outright theft”.
“This is not justice; it is a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system,” he said in a statement, arguing that the seizure of his property raised “serious questions about the lengths to which the authorities will go to silence dissent”.
The Associated Press quoted the men’s lawyer, Martin Evans, as defending the wire transfers in question as “completely orthodox” for Internet business owners.
Tate gained millions of followers online before being banned by TikTok, Facebook and YouTube when the platforms accused him of posting misogynistic hate speech.
Tate and his brother are currently under house arrest in Romania, where they are face charges of human trafficking. Once that case is concluded, the brothers will be extradited to the UK, where they face additional charges of human trafficking and rape.
The Tate brothers have denied all accusations of sexual violence and human trafficking.
