The influencer built a massive following bragging about his fleet of Bugattis and a $50 million superyacht. Now, sitting in a Florida jail cell, his legal team is arguing he didn’t actually own any of it and was just “playing a role” for clicks.
When your entire brand is built on flexing unimaginable wealth, admitting it was all rented props is a tough pill to swallow. But for Andrew and Tristan Tate, tearing down their own myth might be the only way to win their current legal battle.
The brothers are currently locked up in a Miami jail, fighting extradition to Britain. UK prosecutors recently hit them with 38 new charges, including rape and sex trafficking. Combined with previous allegations, they are now facing a total of 59 charges relating to alleged offenses between 2010 and 2017. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
The UK Crown Prosecution Service is arguing the Tates are a massive “flight risk.” To prove it, prosecutors are pointing to the brothers’ own past statements about their vast wealth, global influence, and use of multiple identities to evade the law.
SEE ALSO: Tate Brothers Arrested in Miami as UK Legal Charges Skyrocket to 59
To counter that argument, the Tates’ lawyers filed a court submission essentially admitting their online persona is a facade. They argue the “uberwealthy” lifestyle is just a business model that “depends on online attention.”
“The more hyperbolic and outlandish the post, the more likely it will generate views and likes, which in turn generates income. In short, they are playing a role,” the legal filing reads. The defense even claimed that Andrew Tate frequently uses hyperbole for “comedic effect” and never intended to be taken seriously.
The lawyers laid out exactly what was fake. That massive superyacht? They didn’t own it; they were just paid to promote it. The fleet of Bugattis and Aston Martins that dominated their social media feeds? They were just rented.
“But the government has not established that these grandiose claims are true,” the defense added.
Both men, who hold dual US-UK citizenship, are waiting on a judge’s ruling on their bail. The contrast between their digital lives and their legal reality is jarring. On the internet, they are untouchable billionaires preaching dominance. In a Florida courtroom, their lawyers are begging a judge to believe they are just a couple of guys renting cars to get likes on social media.
