Andrew and Tristan Tate forced to pay more than £2m over ‘serial tax evasion’

The social media influencer and his brother have been ordered to pay more than £2m after being accused of ‘brazen’ tax evasion

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, left, at a separate hearing, in Bucharest, Romania, in September (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan will have more than £2m seized by police after the brothers were accused of being “serial tax evaders” who have “not paid a penny” in tax on £21m in revenues.

A judge ruled against the brothers after Devon and Cornwall Police brought a civil claim against them and a third person referred to only as J over unpaid tax from their online businesses and OnlyFans accounts.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said what appeared to be a "complex financial matrix" was actually a "straightforward cheat of the revenue".

Responding to the ruling, Andrew Tate accused authorities of “outright theft”, adding they were “freezing my accounts for more than two years and now seizing everything they could”.

In a statement, he said: “This is not justice; it’s a co-ordinated 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.”

Devon and Cornwall Police welcomed the magistrate’s decision.

"From the outset we have aimed to demonstrate that Andrew and Tristan Tate evaded taxes and laundered money through bank accounts located in Devon,” a spokesperson for the force said in a statement.

"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 spokesperson said the force would not be commenting further, including on their process to begin recouping the funds, until the 28-day appeal period was over.

The ruling comes after the force made a bid to claw back unpaid taxes from seven frozen bank accounts linked to the brothers at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July.

Sarah Clarke KC for Devon and Cornwall Police told the hearing: “Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are serial tax and VAT evaders. They, in particular Andrew Tate, are brazen about it.”

In total, it was claimed that the brothers paid no tax in any country on £21m revenue from businesses online earned between 2014 and 2022.

Ms Clarke quoted from a video posted online by Andrew Tate, in which he said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay tax.”

Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, left, speaking to the media in Bucharest, where he faces separate criminal charges (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The court heard he said his approach was “ignore, ignore, ignore because in the end they go away”.

Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer and social media influencer, is awaiting trial in Romania on separate criminal charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.

Revenues were said to have been generated from their schemes Cobratate, Hustlers University and The War Room, the court heard.

Ms Clarke said that money was “washed around UK bank accounts” to create a “spaghetti trail” to make it impossible to disentangle what’s owed to the tax man and what isn’t.

“That’s what tax evasion looks like, that’s what money laundering looks like,” she told the court.

Former professional kickboxer and controversial influencer Andrew Tate, centre, and his brother Tristan Tate, right (AFP via Getty Images)

However, a lawyer for the brothers, Martin Evans KC, said that it was to be expected that a number of payments would be made out of their Stripe account – a payment platform used to deal with revenue from their online businesses.

He argued the movement of money in numerous transfers from a payment platform to the Tates was “entirely orthodox”.

“There’s no mystery, for any internet sales there has to be some form of merchant provider or payment platform.”

If the Tate brothers had wanted to distance themselves from the money, they did “a singularly bad job” because they moved it into accounts in their own names, he added.

The brothers spent money on a number of “exotic motor cars” but nothing illegal, he told the court.

Gary Pons, for J, argued that the funds in the Gemini account were in cryptocurrency and therefore could not be frozen at that time.

Additional reporting from Press Association