Lawyers for Andrew and Tristan Tate are arguing in federal court that their clients are not nearly as wealthy as their social media personas suggest, undercutting the billionaire image at the center of the brothers’ business empire.
The brothers have remained in a Miami federal detention center since their July 18 arrest, fighting extradition to the United Kingdom on a combined 59 charges, including rape, sex trafficking and assault, with Andrew Tate, 39, facing 42 and Tristan Tate, 38, facing 17. Both deny the allegations. A bail hearing is set for August 27, after the court postponed an earlier date.
Read: Prosecutors Cite Fake Passports as Tate Brothers Fight for Bail
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Prosecutors argued in an August 10 filing that the brothers are a flight risk, citing claims that they maintain multiple passports and identities and have access to excessive wealth and influence worldwide. In an August 21 reply, the Tates’ lawyers quoted the government’s own description of the brothers as “self-proclaimed billionaires” who own a “custom $50-million-dollar superyacht” and have “unrestricted access” to cryptocurrency, then argued none of it holds up.
The superyacht in the brothers’ videos, called the Obsidian Blade, “does not belong to the Tates,” their lawyers wrote. “They received payment to promote the ship on social media.” The Tates rented the Aston Martin and Bugattis featured in Tristan’s videos, valued at $2.1 million and $5 million to $7 million.
The valuation of Andrew Tate’s watch collection, the filing said, comes from a third-party enthusiast publication. The market-capitalization figure prosecutors cited for his meme coin reflects the value of all coins in existence, not what Tate actually holds. Authorities in Romania have seized or restrained most of what the brothers do own, their lawyers added, as the two also fight a separate human-trafficking case there.
“The Tates are engaged in several businesses ‘teaching’ men how to earn money,” the lawyers wrote. “It is in their interest to portray themselves on social media as uber-wealthy.”
