Frank Butselaar, a former tax lawyer representing superstar DJs Tiësto and Afrojack, among other high-profile clients, has pleaded guilty to fraud.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Butselaar, 66, advised multiple “celebrity clients,” including international fashion models, on setting up offshore infrastructures to conceal income from United States tax authorities. He allegedly filed false tax returns while operating as a shareholder at the Amsterdam office of a major U.S.-based international law firm, collaborating with a separate stateside management firm.
Prosecutors say the scheme involved placing nominee owners on offshore accounts to make it appear as though the earnings belonged to someone else, usually a family member not residing in the United States. Despite these ownership changes on paper, The DOJ says Butselaar “lied and concealed information” from his clients, who continued to access their offshore income, which remained undeclared to the IRS.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Butselaar was repeatedly warned by at least six different CPAs and tax attorneys that the offshore income was reportable. Despite the warnings, he and his co-conspirators allegedly omitted more than $70 million in taxable U.S. income for Tiësto and Afrojack between 2012 and 2017.
Butselaar faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and is scheduled for sentencing on February 13th, 2025.