Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan are “serial tax evaders” who have failed to declare profits on £21 million earned through their online businesses including an Only Fans account, a court was told.
The siblings are said to have “extremely suspicious dealings with their money” in which huge sums of cash had been “washed around” seven UK bank accounts, which have since been frozen.
Westminster magistrates’ court was told their purpose was to “mislead anyone wanting to make enquiries and to hide money. It was high stakes.”
Andrew Tate, 37, Tristan Tate, 35, and a person identified only as “J”, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are being sued by Devon and Cornwall police.
The force has applied for a forfeiture order over their failure to pay tax on earnings from their Only Fans business.
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The money is said to have been paid into accounts in J’s name, who had no business dealings with the brothers.
Devon and Cornwall police claim the Tates have committed an offence under Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006, namely fraud by false representation, and they are seeking to recover at least £2.8 million in unpaid tax and VAT.
On Monday the court was told $12 million was paid into a UK bank account opened in 2019. Later, there was a “frantic attempt” to empty £805,000 into another account owned by J — who washed £225,00 into a third account “as fast as they could”.
Some £495,000 was paid to Andrew Tate, who lives in Romania, while £75,000 was transferred to a Gemini account and temporarily converted into and temporarily converted into Fiat currency, a type of money declared legal tender by a government but has no intrinsic or fixed value.
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Sarah Clarke KC, representing the chief constable of Devon and Cornwall police, said: “On any view, Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are serial tax and VAT evaders, in particular Andrew Tate, [and] are brazen about it.
“Between 2014 and 2022 they have made approximately £21 million in revenue from websites of their eprogrammes or digital services … connected with their businesses in addition to Only Fans. They have not paid a penny of tax or VAT in either a personal or corporate capacity.”
Clarke referenced one of Andrew Tate’s videos in which he said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay tax.” The barrister said his stance was “ignore, ignore, ignore and they go away”.
She continued: “Not only that, they [Andrew and Tristan Tate] have never registered for tax or VAT or declared any income in any jurisdiction, apart from Talisman Enterprises, set up by Tristan in Romania. Why Tristan Tate bothered to make those limited [disclosures remains unclear] because it is completely inconsistent with their conduct.”
Clarke said the case was “consistent with money laundering” in which funds are said to have travelled to Costa Rica, Romania and Dubai, where they brought property and “fast cars”.
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During the hearing, the court was told the Tate brothers are accused of tax evasion and money laundering in Britain and Romania.
Both men are awaiting trial in Romania on separate criminal charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. They have denied the charges.
Profits from The War Room, Hustler’s University and Cobratate were paid into a Stripe account, a payment processor allowing business owners to accept card payments and transfers from mobile money wallets.
A Stripe account was opened in February 2019 in J’s name with an incorrect date of birth, the court was told. In October 2019 Andrew Tate submitted a driving licence as proof of identity and address to the payment platform. J’s provided their licence for the same reason in June 2022.
Clarke said the use of J’s name was a front and said they had never worked for the Tates or had any legitimate claims on the money.
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She added: “It was a device. One of the reasons of course that you use one account in someone else’s name is in order to put distance between you and the money you are intending to deal with in a criminal way.”
The barrister told the court: “[J] had no meaningful role to play with the revenue in these accounts. It was clearly Tate money.
“That’s what tax evasion looks like, that’s what money laundering looks like.”
The Tate brothers, who are dual UK and US nationals, have not served a sworn witness statement, the court was told.
Martin Evans KC, a barrister representing the siblings, is expected to set out their case on Tuesday.
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Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, will determine on the balance of probabilities whether what the police claim is true. Civil proceedings such as these require a lower standard of proof than criminal cases.
The case continues.
