ANDREW Tate’s “real” empire worth £10million, including £440k in Bitcoin, could be returned to him as part of a desperate new bid against Romania cops.
The Tate brothers won the first step in having their seized assets returned to them in court today, which include 15 luxury cars, 14 luxury watches, 10 buildings and lands.
Romanian cops listed the disgraced influencer’s luxurious assets when they announced Tate and his brother Tristan were charged as part of a sex trafficking investigation.
DIICOT have been probing the brothers since arresting them in December 2022, at which time cops seized several buildings and two luxury homes owned by the Tate brothers in Voluntari.
One of the houses has eight bedrooms and spans 424 square metres, while the other has four bedrooms and spans 153 square metres.
If the Tate brothers are sentenced for the crimes they are accused of and don’t have the money to pay their alleged victims, their assets will be sold at auction, a judicial source previously told The Sun.
Andrew and Tristan are facing allegations of tracking and rape – all of which they strongly deny.
The assets seized from the Tates were estimated to be worth about £10million – including company investments worth £84,000 and 21 Bitcoin worth about £440,000.
Tate has previously bragged about his wealth – with suggestions of his fortune ranging from £100million to being the self-proclaimed “world’s first trillionaire”.
But the assessment by the Romanian police puts his finances at a much lower figure.
And to complicate matters further, Tate has previously claimed he doesn’t actually “own anything”.
“The biggest assets of Tate brothers are their cars – which are estimated to be around £8million,” a source told The Sun Online.
“Their houses and lands are also estimated at more than £2million”
The source added: “As for their accounts, further investigations are to be made, as there is also another file on their names for money laundering, a file which is far from being ended.”
Tate’s assets listed by the Romania police include 15 luxury cars, 15 properties, 14 watches, two “ingots” and shares in four companies.
The company investments were worth just £84,000.
They also list Tate’s crypto assets – which are said to be 21 Bitcoin.
The electronic cash is worth £440,000 now, but was worth less when he was first arrested due to volatile fluctuating crypto markets.
The Tates will also have to pay advanced legal fees of some £52,000 ahead of the trial – which is expected to begin in September.
Tate has often bragged about his wealth – sometimes claiming he is a “trillionaire”.
Responding to the new details about his finances, Tate complained: “I’m sure this case has absolutely nothing to do with stealing my wealth.”
And he wrote on X/Twitter today: “They stole 27 million without a single shred of evidence that we had many money illegally.
“A very smart judge threw it out. Now they have to prove to a new judge what money we “made” If they prove 10k, they can keep 10k.
“They won’t prove a thing because it never happened. 27M of houses cars gold and cash on its way back to me.”
It comes after Andrew and Tristan lost their bid to return to the UK to visit their sick mum after she suffered a heart attack.
The Tate brothers were arrested in December last year as part of a probe into human trafficking, rape, and organised crime.
They are accused of recruiting women on social media platforms and getting them to travel to their villa on the outskirts of Bucharest.
Both men are alleged to have pretended to fall in love with the women before getting them to work for their business and making them perform sexual acts on webcams.
Romanian authorities have reported that they have identified six alleged victims in the case who were subjected to “acts of physical violence and mental coercion” as well as “sexual exploitation”.
Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying that he is a victim of something called The Matrix.
The Tate brothers and their alleged accomplices Georgiana Naghel and Luana Radu were released on house arrest late last year.
EPAA Ferrari is moved ahead of the seizure[/caption]
AFPPolice remove a Lamborghini from the Tate compound in Romania[/caption]
ReutersPolice remove a car with a ‘T8 BYE’ plate[/caption]
EPAAnd a Ferrari is towed away by cops[/caption]
EPAPolice work to seize supercars belonging to Andrew and Tristan Tate[/caption]
ReutersRomanian cops load up a lamborghini on a flatbed truck[/caption]
AFPTate’s Rolls Royce was also seized by amid the trafficking probe[/caption]
Tate was quoting a tweet that claimed he had $380million worth of crypto assets – but sources confirmed this appears to be based on a mistranslation from Romanian media.
Tate would often share his lavish lifestyle on social media, with flash cars, expensive properties, cigars and private jets.
But this appears to have all been part of a carefully crafted social media image designed to appeal to his followers and promote his brand.
Tate’s lawyers have even claimed he plays a “character” online for the purposes of entertainment.
Pictures showed the Tates’ car collection at their £600,000 warehouse-like compound on the outskirts of Bucharest including a Lamborghini, an Aston Martin, a Ferrari, and a Rolls Royce.
It was previously estimated a total value of £6million.
But in a previous podcast interview just before his arrest, Tate actually denied owning any of his cars.
“I don’t own anything. There are cars [that I may have access to],” Tate said on Strike It Big.
He then implied his famous Bugatti was actually owned via a series of companies and trusts that gave him access.
Questions still loom over the Tates finances as part of the ongoing investigation.
Former kickboxer Tate, 36, and his brother Tristan were released from the hellhole jail they had been held in for three months on March 31 on house arrest.
But the pair, who have dual US and British nationality, and two Romanian female suspects have now been formally charged.
The indictment says the four defendants formed an organised criminal group in 2021 for human trafficking in Romania.
Prosecutors allege seven female victims were recruited by Tate through false promises of marriage or a relationship, known as the “loverboy method”.
Tate has also been charged with rape and Tristan has been charged with instigating others to violence.
Under Romanian law, trafficking of adults carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
The trial will not start immediately and under Romanian law, the case has been sent to a court in Bucharest, where a judge has 60 days to inspect the case files to ensure legality.
A spokesman for the pair said: “The indictment of Andrew and Tristan Tate has been sent to the court, as per the DIICOT’s recent press release.
“While this news is undoubtedly predictable, we embrace the opportunity it presents to demonstrate their innocence and vindicate their reputation.
“Our primary focus will be to establish the truth and ensure a fair and impartial examination of the evidence the legal team will submit.
“Tate’s legal team are prepared to cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities, presenting all necessary evidence to exonerate the brothers and expose any misinterpretations or false accusations.”
It comes as Tate could be sued in the High Court after four British women accused him of rape and sexual assault.
Lawyers representing the alleged victims handed court papers to Tate last week at his compound in Bucharest.
The women say the sex attacks happened between 2013 and 2016 when Tate, aged 36, was still living in the UK.
McCue Jury & Partners is crowdfunding to raise £50,000 to bring the case to a civil court in the hope it will prompt a criminal investigation.
Tate initially gained fame after a short-lived appearance on Big Brother.
He was dumped from the reality show after alleged footage of him beating a woman emerged online.
Tate then built up an image that appealed to teenage boys – creating an online empire that made him one of the most searched people on Google.
Masquerading as lifestyle advice, much of the content is considered highly sexist and is seen as promoting violence against women.
His influence has had a worrying spread amongst young men and boys, with one UK MP saying he is “brainwashing” children.