Controversial social media personality Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have been accused of failing to pay any tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses.
Devon and Cornwall Police is bringing a civil claim against the brothers and a third person, referred to only as J.
They are accused of paying no tax in any country on their online business revenue between 2014 and 2022.
The force is seeking to recover around £2.8 million in seven frozen bank accounts, an application the three defendants are contesting.
“Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are serial tax and VAT evaders,” Sarah Clarke KC for Devon and Cornwall Police told Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
“They, in particular Andrew Tate, are brazen about it.”
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.”
The court heard he said his approach was “ignore, ignore, ignore because in the end they go away”.
The court also heard that the brothers had “a huge number of bank accounts” in the UK, seven of which have been frozen.
Ms Clarke said the money – from various products sold on websites including OnlyFans – had been “washed around” a huge number of UK bank accounts.
As well as owning extensive land, property and vehicles in Romania, the Tates had spent their earnings on “fast cars and property”, Ms Clarke said.
“That’s what tax evasion looks like, that’s what money laundering looks like,” she told the court.
The brothers are accused of paying just under $12m into an account in J’s name, and opening a second account in her name, even though she had no role in their businesses, the court heard.
Devon and Cornwall Police alleges that this was fraud by false misrepresentation.
Ms Clarke said all three would not provide any evidence in the case.
Money from the brothers’ businesses including Cobra Tate, Hustlers’ University and War Room was paid into the first account, held with payment service provider Stripe.
It was opened in February 2019 in J’s name with an incorrect date of birth, the court heard. Driving licences belonging to both Andrew Tate and J were later submitted to Stripe as proof of identity and address.
The majority of payments out of this account went to one of Andrew Tate’s accounts, the court heard.
J also moved money through her own Revolut bank account, including one payment of £805,000, the court heard.
Of this, £495,000 was paid to Andrew Tate, and £75,000 to an account in J’s name that was later converted to cryptocurrency, it is alleged.
The proceedings are civil, which uses a lower standard of proof than criminal cases.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring will decide on the balance of probabilities whether what the police claim is true.
The case was adjourned until Tuesday.
Andrew Tate is a self-described misogynist and was previously banned from social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views.
In a separate case in Romania, the Tate brothers, former kickboxers who are dual UK-US nationals, are accused of exploiting women via an adult content business, which prosecutors allege operated as a criminal group.
Two female Romanian associates were also named alongside the brothers in an indictment published in June last year, and seven alleged victims were identified.
Andrew Tate has repeatedly claimed Romanian prosecutors have no evidence against him and there is a conspiracy to silence him.
The internet personalities are also wanted in the UK over alleged sexual offences, which they deny.
By BBC News
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