My stage name is Tiesto, he said after spelling out his legal name, T-i-j-s V-e-r-w-e-s-t.
Neither Tiesto nor Afrojack were charged in the case.
(Reps for Afrojack and Tiesto declined to comment on Butselaar or the trial.)
Afrojack and TiëstoMauricio Santana/Getty Images; Prince Williams/WireImage
He was balding and bespectacled, sporting the thinning arms of many a sixty-something man.
He seemed very professional and [knew] what he was doing.
He started working as a tax-lawyer trainee in college and was hired full-time after graduating.
Over the next two decades, he learned about international property rights during his work with a pharmaceutical company.
And I clearly had no idea about taxes or any of that.
He ultimately set up a convoluted corporate structure for the performer.
It would be the income from Cyprus.
This setup ran without incident until 2012.
Why did he trust Butselaar so much with his U.S. taxes, prosecutors asked.
He knew a lot more about it than I did.
For me, it was all new.
How much were you spending on the preparation of your taxes?
And I thought I had the whole team in place for whatever I needed.
Butselaar had another great idea: the taxes world tour.
Everything seemed copacetic until 2018.
That year, Tiestos U.S. advisers told him there was a problem with how his trust was set up.
Hed have to report the offshore structure to the IRS for his 2017 taxes.
Besides, there was no time to do anything else before the filing deadline, the DJ testified.
Van de Wall said he met Butselaar around 2010 or 2011.
Hed been told that Butselaar also handled Tiestos business stuff and texted his colleague about it.
Tijs literally said Frank is top … hes amazing.
The major question you have to ask yourself is the following, the adviser emailed the DJ.
This is how most of the business meetings went.
Butselaar emailed that Afrojack needed to pay 17,500 euros to set up the Guernsey trust.
Another business adviser asked Afrojack whether to authorize this payment.
Afrojack replied: Make me disappear.
The business setups would reflect this.
So thats why on paper, I would disappear.
I would become someone that doesnt live anywhere.
Did he understand the structure of these companies?
Did he care what theyd be doing?
Beyond my understanding, he said.
Even though its a business that benefits me, its not a business that I am running myself.
Over the next few years, van de Wall enjoyed the lifestyle expected of an EDM hitmaker.
I would buy a car.
I would drive it for a year and then buy a flashier car, he said.
I like [sports] cars a lot.
Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maybachs.
There were management costs, attorney fees, agency percentages, and taxes he wasnt aware of.
At some point, van de Wall spent around 2 or 3 million dollars on private jets per year.
I did not know about withholding tax until maybe seven years ago.
I bought a car, and I crashed it within 35 minutes of picking it up, Afrojack said.
I was being serious.
Butselaar told the DJs team to file taxes that omitted his non-U.S. money.
(Tiesto fired Butselaar after the probe came to light; the adviser and Afrojack also parted ways.)
The defense approached prosecutors about a plea deal after seeing evidence showing that Butselaar illegally changed a trust document.
Both sides argument at Butselaars sentencing echoed their filings.
Mr. Butselaars life as he knew it is in complete ruins, defense attorney Kerry Lawrence said.
During the proceeding, Butselaar was not particularly emotional.
At various times during the two-hour sentencing, he rested his chin on his hand.
After Seibel handed down the sentence, he stood and shook his lawyers hands.
Butselaar exchanged hugs before being escorted out of court.
