A court has given police the green light to seize more than £2m from the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan.
Devon and Cornwall police had been seeking to seize the money held in seven frozen bank accounts from the Tates and a woman identified only as J.
A judgment in favour of the force was handed down by the chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday.
He said that what appeared to be a “complex financial matrix” was actually a “straightforward cheat of the revenue”.
At a hearing in July, a barrister representing the force told the court the brothers were “serial tax and VAT evaders”.
It is alleged that they had failed to pay a penny in tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses, including War Room, Hustlers’ University, Cobra Tate and OnlyFans, between 2014 and 2022.
Sarah Clarke KC, representing the force, quoted from a video posted online by Andrew Tate in which he said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay tax.”
The court heard that he said his approach was “ignore, ignore, ignore because in the end they go away”.
It was claimed that the brothers paid just under $12m into an account in the name of J, and opened a second account in her name, even though she had no role in their businesses.
Part of the money that Devon and Cornwall police wish to seize is cryptocurrency held in an account in her name. J received a payment of £805,000 into her Revolut account, the court heard.
In his written ruling, the chief magistrate said: “I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that they have engaged in long-standing, deliberate conduct in order to evade their tax.”
The proceedings are civil, which uses a lower standard of proof than criminal cases.
The former professional kickboxer, 37, and his brother, 36, continue to be embroiled in a legal battle with authorities in Romania. Both men were arrested in 2022 and formally indicted in mid-2023, along with two Romanian women, on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
The four have denied all the allegations against them. Last month, a Romanian court ruled that one of the public prosecutors’ cases contained numerous irregularities and ordered them to amend or withdraw it within five days.
In a statement after the ruling Tate said the chief magistrate’s ruling “is not justice” and was a “coordinated attack”.
He said: “First, they labelled me a human trafficker, yet they couldn’t find a single woman to stand against me. When that narrative crumbled, they turned to outright theft, freezing my accounts for more than two years and now seizing everything they could.
“This is not justice; it’s a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system. Speak against the Matrix and they’ll come for your freedom, your reputation and your livelihood. This raises serious questions about the lengths authorities will go to silence dissent.”
Devon and Cornwall police said: “From the outset we have aimed to demonstrate that Andrew and Tristan Tate evaded taxes and laundered money through bank accounts located in Devon.
“The investigation focuses on substantial earnings accrued between 2014 and 2022, during which we believe no tax or VAT was paid on those funds. Furthermore, both individuals are alleged to have concealed the origins of their income by channelling money through ‘front’ accounts, constituting criminal activity and rendering those earnings proceeds of crime.”
The force added that it would refrain from further comment until a 28-day appeal period has concluded.
Tate still has more than 10 million followers on X, where he promotes an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say denigrates women.
