LONDON (AP) – A British court ruled Wednesday that police can seize more than 2.6 million pounds ($3.3 million) from influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to cover years of unpaid taxes. handed down the verdict.
Police in Devon and Cornwall went to court to claim money held in seven frozen bank accounts from Mr and Mrs Tate and a woman identified only as J Kennedy.
At Westminster Magistrates' Court, Chief Justice Paul Goldspring ruled that the brothers' financial dealings, which involved transfers of around $12 million to accounts in J's name, amounted to “clear fraud” on the part of the tax authorities. .
Lawyers for the force said the Tate family failed to pay tax on £21m of income they earned from online businesses including War Room, Hustlers University, Cobra Tate and OnlyFans between 2014 and 2022 in a “consecutive” series. ” said he was a tax evader.
Andrew Tate, 38, accused the government of “outright theft” by freezing his accounts and seizing “everything we could”.
“This is not justice. It is a coordinated attack on those who seek to challenge the system,” Tate said in a statement. “This raises serious questions about the lengths to which authorities will go to silence dissent.”
At a hearing in July, barrister Sarah Clarke cited a video posted online by Andrew Tate in which he said: “When I lived in the UK, I refused to pay my taxes.” Ta.
She said J (who cannot be named due to court order) was not involved in her brother's business.
The brothers' lawyer, Martin Evans, argued that bank transfers were “completely normal” for people running online businesses. He said the brothers spent money on a number of “unusual cars” but did nothing illegal.
This lawsuit is a civil lawsuit and has a lower standard of proof than a criminal lawsuit. Goldspring needed to determine on a probabilistic basis whether the Tate family had evaded taxes.
According to court documents, an estimated total of 2,683,345.88 pounds (approximately $3.4 million) is held in seven accounts that police can now seize.
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 being accused by the platforms of posting hate speech and misogynistic comments.
He and Tristan Tate, 36, face criminal charges in Romania, including human trafficking and forming a criminal organization to exploit women. Once these proceedings are completed, they will be extradited to the UK to face further rape and human trafficking charges.
The Tates deny all allegations.
