A Dutch tax advisor who was jailed in the United States for setting up a tax evasion scheme has been detained by immigration authorities straight after finishing his sentence.
Frank Butselaar had hoped to fly back to the Netherlands after spending 21 months behind bars in the US and Italy for filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of Dutch DJ Nick van de Wall, better known as Afrojack.
Butselaar had been sentenced to 30 months for what a judge called a “gigantic” and deliberate fraud, but he was released nine months early for good behaviour. Cases relating to five other clients were dropped because of procedural errors.
He was arrested at his holiday home in Italy in July 2023 and extradited to the United States, where he has been held in prison ever since. His lawyers said he intended to leave the country immediately and had booked a plane ticket for him to fly back to the Netherlands.
But on his release he was taken into custody by the US immigration service ICE for being in the country illegally and returned to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, the Financieele Dagblad reported.
Tax havens
Butselaar made his name as a tax adviser to several Dutch celebrities, including Linda de Mol, Jort Kelder and DJs Afrojack and Tiësto.
He arranged for them to avoid paying tax in the United States by setting up shell companies in Cyprus and Guernsey. But prosecutors said he had used forged documents to claim they were living in the tax havens and exempt from US taxes.
In March a US court ordered him to pay $15.5 million in unpaid tax revenue owed by Tiësto, who was also ordered to pay $9.5 million.
Butselaar’s lawyers said he had no money left to pay the bill, but he hoped to be able to pay them back once he started working again after his release.
He is also facing legal action in the Netherlands, where Afrojack and Tiësto have filed claims while the Dutch prosecution department (Openbare Ministerie) has charged him with tax-related offences.
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