London — A UK court ruled Wednesday that police can seize the equivalent of $3.3 million in frozen financial assets. social media misogynist Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to cover years of unpaid taxes.
The money was held in seven bank accounts frozen by British authorities belonging to Tate, who used to live in the UK, his brother Tristan and a woman named by British authorities only as J.
Westminster Magistrates' Court Chief Justice Paul Goldspring said in his ruling on Wednesday that the transactions carried out by the brothers, including transfers of almost $12 million to J, were a “simple deception” to avoid the tax authorities.
Lawyers for Devon and Cornwall Police alleged that Tate and his brother were serial tax evaders and failed to pay taxes on about $26.5 million in income from their online business.
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According to the French news agency AFP, lawyer Sarah Clarke, who represented the police, quoted during the trial a video published by Tate, in which he said: “When I lived in England, I refused to pay taxes.”
Tate opposed the ruling, accusing the government of “outright theft.”
“This is not justice; this is a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system,” he said in a statement, arguing that the seizure of his assets raised “serious questions about how far authorities will go to silence dissenters.”
The Associated Press quoted the people'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 from TikTok, Facebook and YouTube after the platforms accused him of posting misogynistic hate speech.
Tate and his brother are currently under house arrest in Romania, where they are accused of human trafficking. When the case is concluded, the brothers are expected to be extradited to the UK to face additional charges of human trafficking and rape.
The Tate brothers have denied all allegations of sexual violence and human trafficking.