U.K. court says police can seize millions in unpaid taxes from misogynist influencer Andrew Tate
London — A court in the United Kingdom ruled Wednesday that police could seize the equivalent of $3.3 million in frozen financial assets from misogynist social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to cover years of unpaid taxes.
The money has been held in seven bank accounts, frozen by British authorities, belonging to Tate, who previously lived in the U.K., his brother Tristan and a woman identified by the British authorities only as J.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring at the Westminster Magistrates' Court said in his Wednesday ruling that transactions made by the brothers, including transfers amounting to almost $12 million to J, had been a "straightforward cheat" to evade tax authorities.
Lawyers for the Devon and Cornwall Police force had argued that Tate and his brother were serial tax evaders who paid no taxes on around $26.5 million in revenue from their online businesses.
According to the French news agency AFP, lawyer Sarah Clarke, who represented the police force, quoted during the proceedings from a video posted online by Tate, in which he said: "When I lived in England I refused to pay tax."
Tate railed against the ruling, accusing the government of "outright theft."
"This is not justice; it's a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system," he said in a statement, claiming the seizure of his assets raised "serious questions about the lengths authorities will go to silence dissent."
The Associated Press quoted a lawyer for the men, Martin Evans, as defending the bank transfers in question as "entirely orthodox" for the owners of online businesses.
Tate gained millions of followers online before being banned by TikTok, Facebook and YouTube when the platforms accused him of posting misogynistic hate speech.
Tate and his brother are currently under house arrest in Romania, where they face criminal human trafficking charges. When that case is concluded, the brothers are set to be extradited to the U.K., where they face additional allegations of human trafficking and rape.
The Tate brothers have denied all the charges of sexual violence and human trafficking.
