Police can seize more than £2 million from controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan after they failed to pay a penny in tax on £21 million of revenue from their online businesses, the chief magistrate has ruled.
Devon and Cornwall Police made a legal bid to seize the money, held in seven frozen bank accounts, from the Tates and a woman identified only as J.
In his judgment handed down at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said what appeared to be a “complex financial matrix” was actually a “straightforward cheat of the revenue”.
The court previously heard the brothers paid just under 12 million US dollars 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 the force applied to seize was cryptocurrency held in an account in J’s name.
J received a payment of £805,000 into her Revolut account, the court previously heard.
The proceedings are civil, which carries a lower standard of proof than criminal cases.