International Tax Advisor Pleads Guilty To Tax Fraud In Concert With U.S.-Based CPAs

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that FRANK BUTSELAAR pled guilty on Thursday, November 14, 2024, to one count of aiding or assisting in the filing of a false or fraudulent tax return. BUTSELAAR pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, to whom his case is assigned.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: "Today's guilty plea, which comes after a rigorous investigation, demonstrates that this Office will stop at nothing to ensure that tax professionals who decide to cheat and lie are held to account for their misconduct."

As alleged by the Government, and based on the testimony and exhibits received at trial, filings in Court, and statements made in Court:

BUTSELAAR advised the creation of offshore structures for multiple ultra-high-net worth individuals who earned money all over the world and did so while a shareholder in the Amsterdam Office of a major U.S.-based international law firm.

Those clients included world-famous DJs, including Tijs Verwest, p/k/a "DJ Tiesto," and Nick van de Wall, p/k/a "DJ Afrojack" (the "DJ Clients"). Other celebrity clients included fashion models Patricia van der Vliet and Daria Strokous (the "Fashion Model Clients," and collectively with the DJ Clients, the "Clients").

BUTSELAAR worked with partners at a U.S.-based management firm to file U.S. tax returns for the Clients ("Management Firm-1").

When the Clients were becoming or had become U.S. tax residents, the defendant, and his co-conspirators-partners at Management Firm-1-sought to conceal the Clients' offshore income through the use of nominee owners of their offshore structures. As part of the scheme, these nominees were installed to make it appear as though the Clients' earnings now belonged to someone else, generally a family member who lived outside the U.S.

Despite these paper changes in ownership, BUTSELAAR and his co-conspirators at Management Firm-1 never told the Clients anything of substance had changed. The Clients-with the knowledge of BUTSELAAR and his co-conspirators at Management Firm-1-continued to operate their offshore entities as their own and believed they had access to and could direct the money they were accumulating offshore.

Between 2012 and 2017, when Verwest was a U.S. Resident taxpayer, BUTSELAAR and Management Firm-1 omitted from Verwest's taxes substantial sums held offshore. Similarly, in 2013, when van de Wall was a U.S. Resident taxpayer, BUTSELAAR and Management Firm-1 omitted from van de Wall's taxes substantial sums held offshore. The amount of unreported income for these two taxpayers exceeded $70 million. During his allocution, BUTSELAAR admitted that partners at Management Firm-1 knowingly omitted overseas income, which should have been reported, from van de Wall's 2013 U.S. resident return.

While the scheme was operating, BUTSELAAR was repeatedly warned that the income being collected offshore for his Clients was reportable. In fact, six different professionals-CPAs and tax lawyers in the U.S.-told BUTSELAAR that the offshore income being accumulated outside the U.S. for the Clients was reportable in the U.S. In the face of these repeated warnings, BUTSELAAR lied and concealed information from these professionals. Instead, BUTSELAAR worked with his co-conspirators, partners at Management Firm-1, to conceal otherwise reportable income from U.S. authorities.

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BUTSELAAR, 66, of Naarden, Netherlands, pled guilty to one count of aiding or assisting in the filing a fraudulent tax return for the 2013 Tax Year for taxpayer Nick van de Wall, p/k/a "Afrojack," which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

The statutory maximum sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing will be determined by a judge. BUTSELAAR is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Seibel on February 13, 2025.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation ("IRS-CI") and the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement. Mr. Williams also thanked the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs and Italy's Ministero della Giustizia, Arma dei Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza, and Interpol-Rome for their assistance.

The case is being handled by the Office's White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Benjamin Klein, Shiva H. Logarajah, and David A. Markewitz are in charge of the prosecution.

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