London — A UK court ruled Wednesday that police can seize the equivalent of $3.3 million in frozen financial assets from misogynist social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to cover years of unpaid taxes.

The money was held in seven bank accounts frozen by British authorities belonging to Tate, who previously lived in the UK, his brother Tristan and a woman identified by British authorities only as J.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring of Westminster Magistrates' Court said in his ruling on Wednesday that the transactions carried out by the brothers, including transfers of almost $12 million to J, were a "sheer fraud" to avoid the tax authorities.

Lawyers for Devon and Cornwall Police argued that Tate and his brother were serial tax evaders who failed to pay tax on around $26.5 million in income from their online business.

According to the French news agency AFP, lawyer Sarah Clarke, who represented the police, quoted during the trial a video posted online by Tate in which he said: "When I lived in England, I refused to pay tax."

Tate opposed the decision, accusing the government of "outright theft".

“This is not justice; this is a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system," he said in a statement, claiming the seizure of his assets raised "serious questions about how far authorities will go to silence dissent."

The Associated Press quoted the men's lawyer, Martin Evans, as defending the wire transfers in question as "completely orthodox" for online business owners.

Tate gained millions of followers online before being banned from TikTok, Facebook and YouTube when the platforms accused him of posting misogynistic hate speech.

Tate and his brother are currently under house arrest in Romania, where they are accused of human trafficking. When this case is concluded, the brothers will be extradited to the UK, where they face further charges of human trafficking and rape.

The Tate brothers have denied all allegations of sexual abuse and human trafficking.