The video of Andrew Tate, who was 2022’s eighth-most Googled person, was published by popular YouTube personality and criminal lawyer, Bruce Rivers, earlier this month. But the strategy Tate touted for bitcoin tax avoidance would likely run afoul of the law in many jurisdictions.
It’s been all over the news that Andrew Tate, the embattled British-American social media influencer and five-time world kickboxing champion, was arrested in Bucharest, Romania last month and is currently sitting in jail with his younger brother and two business partners for alleged human trafficking, sexual assault and forming an organized criminal enterprise.
But now there’s a crypto angle to Tate’s unfolding saga: In an unverified video posted on YouTube earlier this month, the 36-year-old appears to have bragged about using bitcoin (BTC) to avoid paying taxes.
The video shows clips of a brazen Tate – the eighth most googled person of 2022, according to Google Trends – boastfully admitting to multiple illegal acts, including fraud and tax evasion. The clips were collected and published as part of a legal analysis by popular YouTube personality and criminal lawyer, Bruce Rivers.
In the clips, a grandiloquent Tate, clad in a turquoise sweater, proudly details how he used bitcoin to swindle unwitting sex workers and cheat the tax man.
One of Tate’s lawyers in the Romanian case, Eugen Vidineac, told CoinDesk that Tate is currently not facing any tax evasion charges.
“There is no allegation against him on tax evasion,” Vidineac told CoinDesk. “That’s not on the list of charges.”
According to a British news site, the former kickboxer claims he made $600,000 monthly from a lucrative online webcam business that employed 75 sex workers globally.
In the video posted by Rivers, Tate seems to describe how to use bitcoin to bypass the traditional banking system and evade taxes by taking advantage of Chaturbate – an adult webcam platform with an option for bitcoin payouts to performers.
According to Forbes, Tate has been living in Romania since 2017. One Romanian legal expert told CoinDesk that Romania doesn’t have laws that specifically address cryptocurrency.
“Romania is very far behind other countries” when it comes to the adoption of cryptocurrency and creating a legal framework for blockchain-based payments, Stefan Loredan told CoinDesk in an interview.
Loredan is a Romanian lawyer and CEO of Onelink Solutions, a legal advisory firm. “We are so far behind. I think it will happen in the next 10, 15, 20 years. But as of now, there’s no regulations and there’s no laws which involve crypto.”
According to Loredan, who’s discussed Tate’s legal woes on several television news shows, the controversial influencer may not be in the clear just yet in terms of any legal exposure to tax evasion or money laundering.
“During the trial, some charges can drop but also, other charges can be added,” Loredan explained. “For example, if after the prosecutor goes through his phone and there’s further evidence, he might be subject to charges of money laundering or whatever else.”
