Italy extradites Tiësto and Dutch Afrojack tax adviser to US

A Dutch tax adviser is extradited from Italy to the United States. This was judged by the court of Perugia, reports The Financial Times (FD). He is suspected in the United States of having organized tax evasion.

The man was taken yesterday by the police to his vacation home in Italy, confirms his wife to the newspaper. She says he was allowed to bag under five officers and was taken straight to jail. “We barely had time to say goodbye to him.”

The United States had an outstanding warrant against the tax adviser. In March he was arrested at his vacation home, a day after arriving in Italy. The United States then requested his extradition. The adviser has been under house arrest since his arrest in March, his lawyer told the FD.

Yesterday the court decided that he could be extradited to the United States. He faces years of imprisonment. He will likely be taken from an Italian cell to a New York jail later this summer.

The tax adviser’s lawyers deplore the course of events. His Dutch lawyer finds it remarkable that it was decided yesterday to detain him “due to an alleged risk of absconding”. After all, he was already under house arrest, she said.

Its Italian lawyers also question the American method. According to them, the American authorities waited for his arrival in Italy because the chances of success of an extradition request to the Netherlands would be less.

In the case of an extradition request between the US and Italy, a Dutch citizen has fewer rights than when it happens between the US and the Netherlands, the DF says. For example, the counselor should not be allowed to serve a sentence in the Netherlands.

The tax adviser was a tax adviser for a number of world famous stars, including DJs Afrojack and Tiësto. He also had several well-known television presenters and photo models in his clientele. The New York prosecutor accuses him of “developing sophisticated international tax evasion schemes for wealthy clients with worldwide income”.

He reportedly built tax structures out of Cyprus for artists who later went to live in the United States. For example, it would have deprived the US IRS of the ability to tax a combined income of $100 million from artists.

His US attorney tells the DF it will be at least two years before the tax adviser comes to court. Until then, he remains in custody in an American cell.