Shock Instagram influencer and ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate was arrested on human trafficking and rape charges in December.
Authorities in Romania—where the British-American lives—have since seized millions of dollars-worth of luxury cars, homes, and watches.
But what about his Bitcoin? Tate, who boasted about scamming men via his webcam business and had a huge internet following, frequently talked about the size of his cryptocurrency stash.
Mateea Petrescu, a spokesperson for Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan (who was also arrested ), told Decrypt that Romanian police also confiscated hardware wallets containing digital assets.
Petrescu said Andrew Tate’s wallet contained five Bitcoin—today worth around $111,339. Tristan’s wallet held around 16 Bitcoin.
In total, that’s $467,625 worth of the asset.
Andrew Tate’s Bitcoin was held in his girlfriend’s hardware wallet, the spokesperson said—adding that it couldn’t be confirmed whether the social media star owned more crypto than has already been seized.
Romanian Police told Decrypt they couldn’t comment.
Andrew Tate has talked about Bitcoin a lot. “You can actually control and own your money,” he said last year on Anthony Pompliano’s popular Bitcoin podcast. “How difficult is it to move serious cash? No problem with Bitcoin.”
“I’m going full crazy mister blockchain now,” he added.
Being broke, unconnected and weak should bother you deep inside.
And only once it deeply bothers you, you will truly attempt to fix it.
— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) February 14, 2023
On the same podcast, Tate, who grew up in Luton, U.K., talked about how much money he has made from his crypto investments. “I turned 600 grand to $12 million,” he said.
The alleged criminal was banned from social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube last year for violating their policies.
The former Big Brother contestant made misogynistic comments but gained a huge following in a short space of time—largely because others would reshare clips of him on platforms like TikTok.
Tate managed webcam models in Romanian but prosecutors have since hit him with rape charges. They claim the two brothers wanted to “transform” women who worked for them “into slaves”, according to a Reuters report which cites court documents.
