Andrew and Tristan Tate LOSE bid to get back £10million worth of assets seized by cops including 15 luxury cars
THE Tate brothers have lost their bid to get back £10million worth of assets, including 15 luxury cars, seized by cops last year.
Andrew Tate, 37, and Tristan, 35, were told by a judge today that their assets would not be returned to them.
The Tates were arrested on March 11 as part of the UK’s ongoing “Operation Moonwalk” investigation which is looking into allegations of rape and human trafficking.
Dozens of cops descended on the brothers’ Romanian home after Bedfordshire Police obtained two European arrest warrants.
The disgraced brothers were hauled back to court in Romania as it was revealed they would be extradited to Britain.
Judicial sources said the Tates are facing 21 accusations of rape and sexual assault in the UK, Romanian outlet Gandul reported.
The insiders claimed some of the victims were drugged and sexually assaulted between 2012 and 2015.
A spokesperson for the influencers told The Sun that the brothers “categorically reject” all of the new charges.
Both brothers could face life sentences, according to sources.
Bedfordshire Police will be working with Romanian authorities as they continue their probe into allegations that the brothers were involved in human trafficking, rape, and organised crime in 2012 and 2015.
The self-proclaimed misogynists can be extradited to the UK when proceedings end in Romania.
They are still awaiting trial more than a year after their arrest in December 2022 and deny all charges against them.
Andrew and Tristan had £10million worth of assets – including company investments worth £84,000 and 21 Bitcoin worth about £440,000 – seized from them in January last year.
Other seized assets included 15 luxury cars, 14 luxury watches, and 10 buildings and lands, all located in and around Bucharest, Romania.
A judge denied the brothers’ appeal to have the assets returned to them in December, but the decision was overturned in January by the Bucharest Court of Appeal.
They were due to find out today how much of the £10million worth of assets would be returned to them.
A spokesperson confirmed to The Sun that they lost their bid to get the assets back.
The brothers’ collection of watches include two Hublot, three Patek Philippe, one Cartier, three Audemars Piguet, one Akribos, two Rolex, one Ulysse Nardin, and one Breitling.
Cars including three Porsche, two BMW, two Ferrari, one Aston Martin, one McLaren, one Lamborghini, and five Mercedes were also seized by Romania‘s organised crime-busting police unit DIICOT.
Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have both been charged as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
DIICOT have been probing the brothers since arresting them in December 2022, at which time cops seized several blocks of land and two luxury homes owned by the Tate brothers in Voluntari.
One of the houses has eight bedrooms and spans 424 square metres; the other has four bedrooms and spans 153 square metres.
ARREST TIMELINE
ANDREW and Tristan Tate are facing more accusations - of rape and sexual assault, from alleged victims in the UK - and will be extradited to Britain.
It comes after the brothers were arrested in December 2022 and charged with human trafficking, rape, and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women.
Here is a timeline of everything that’s happened since the Tate brothers were arrested:
DECEMBER 29, 2022: The brothers are detained in Romania for 30 days, along with two women, on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and forming an organised crime group.
JANUARY 3, 2023: Romanian authorities seize Andrew’s luxury car collection.
JAN 8, 2023: A cryptic tweet is posted to Andrew Tate’s account which reads: “The Matrix has attacked me. But they misunderstand, you cannot kill an idea. Hard to Kill.”
JAN 10, 2023: Andrew appears in court in Bucharest to appeal his detention but the judge rules against him.
MARCH 31, 2023: The Bucharest Court of Appeal rules against a judge’s decision to extend Andrew’s incarceration for a fourth time; Andrew is placed on house arrest.
JUNE 20, 2023: The brothers are formally charged with human trafficking, rape, and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women.
JULY 13, 2023: The Tates launch a $5million lawsuit against a Florida woman who they say falsely accused them of imprisoning her in Romania – which led to their arrest there on human trafficking charges.
AUGUST 4, 2023: Andrew wins an appeal to be released from house arrest in Romania as he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking.
DECEMBER 11, 2023: A judge denies the Tate brothers’ appeals to have £10million worth of assets returned to them.
JANUARY 8, 2024: The Bucharest Court of Appeal overturns the decision; the brothers are to have their assets returned to them.
MARCH 12, 2024: Both brothers are arrested in Romania over allegations of sexual aggression in the UK that date back to 2012 and 2015. They deny the allegations.
MARCH 15, 2024: The brothers face court to learn how much of their seized assets will be returned to them. The decision is postponed to March 22.
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 wrote on X/Twitter in January: “They stole 27 million without a single shred of evidence that we had made 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.”
The Tate brothers are accused of recruiting women on social media platforms and having them 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 said they 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 and said he is a victim of something called The Matrix.
UK extradition
The Tates were arrested on March 11 as part of Operation Moonwalk, supposedly after authorities became aware of an alleged plan to flee Romania.
They attended Bucharest Tribunal on March 15 to learn what would be the fate of their seized assets, but a judge postponed the decision to today, March 22.
The brothers’ lawyer Eugen Vidineac said: “This ruling provides an opportunity for the brothers to participate fully in their defence and for the legal process to proceed in a transparent manner.”
He refuted claims that Andrew was planning to flee the country.
Andrew Tate told reporters outside of court that he and his brother were “very innocent men”.
He said: “I want to give absolute credit to Romanian justice for making the correct decision today.
“We are excited to finish this judicial process and clear our names.”
Four women in the UK threatened Andrew with a lawsuit last June, accusing him of “violent rapes, serious physical assault, and controlling and coercive behaviour”.
The women said that this month’s arrests of the Tates on UK warrants related to separate matters.
They stated: “We understand that this extradition request was made because of criminal complaints of sexual assault made by other women, and not because the complaints were made almost a decade ago.”
The Tates were given a 60-day extension to the “judicial control” measures – which restrict their movements and ban them from leaving Romania – on March 13.