Police can seize more than £2m from Tate brothers, court rules

Police can seize more than £2m from Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan after they failed to pay tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses, a court has ruled.

Devon and Cornwall Police had sought to seize the funds – held in seven frozen bank accounts – from the brothers and a third person, referred to as J.

The chief magistrate at Westminster Magistrates’ Court said what appeared to be a “complex financial matrix” was actually a “straightforward cheat of the revenue”.

Andrew Tate said the ruling “is not justice”, calling it a “co-ordinated attack”.

The court previously heard the brothers had paid just under $12m into an account in J’s name.

They had also opened a second account in her name, even thought she had had no role in their online businesses, which include the War Room, Hustlers’ University, Cobra Tate and OnlyFans.

Part of the held in J’s name was in the form of a cryptocurrency.

Devon and Cornwall Police’s lawyers told the court that Andrew Tate had publicly declared he had not paid tax in the UK, and that his approach had been to “ignore, ignore, ignore because in the end they go away”.

Ruling in the police force’s favour, Judge Paul Goldspring said the brothers had given the court no evidence relating to tax payments, but had insisted through their lawyers that the movement of the cash had been legitimate business activity.

In his written ruling, the judge said he was “satisfied” that the brothers had “engaged in long-standing, deliberate conduct in order to evade their tax”.

The force can seize £2,683,345 in total, including cryptocurrency.

The loss of the cash is the latest legal blow to the brothers. In June last year, Romanian prosecutors charged Andrew Tate with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang.

Tristan Tate faces allegations of human trafficking and the Romanian authorities say their case relates to seven alleged victims who were recruited through false promises of love and marriage.

Separately, Bedfordshire Police are seeking the extradition of the men to the UK in relation to allegations of rape and human trafficking.

A judge in Bucharest has said that extradition request will be dealt with after the conclusions of the case in Romania.