Will Rob Koster who is no stranger to offshore strategies choose for himself?

IN THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC

Rob Koster, the founder of Lexa.nl, has found himself in troubled waters after knowingly soliciting and accepting questionable funds from Hugo Sluimer in the Netherlands, who has been accused of offshore money laundering and tax evasion in Miami, Florida. Public documents reveal that Koster himself was no stranger to offshore structures.

After selling Lexa.nl and Kamernet.nl, Koster relocated to Monaco. It was discovered that Sorrento BV, Koster's Dutch company registered at his home address in the Netherlands, underwent a change in directorship to Intertrust BV in the Netherlands Antilles (Curacao) in 2009, as shown below.

Intertrust helps individuals and companies to "optimize" their taxes using complicated structures and are represented in many of the worlds offshore jurisdictions. According to International advisor, Intertrust  "received the largest ever penalty ($4.3M) handed down by the financial regulator for AML failings and was the result of Intertrust’s pervasive and protracted history of non-compliance with the requirements of Anti money laundering regulations". Intertrust also received a 2.5 million Euro fine by Dutch regulators in 2024 because their customer due diligence procedures did not meet the legal requirements. 

Upon his move to Monaco, Koster launched two websites: Icampus.nl and BotenBoten.nl, which allegedly served to siphon off profits from the sale of Lexa and Kamernet and funnel the untaxed money into Monaco thereby circumvent the Dutch tax authorities. The men claimed that their advisor had told them to develop more websites so they could pump out the money tax free by expensing the work and to not close the sites too quickly or it would be too obvious. Both www.Icampus.nl and www.BotenBoten.nl now appear to be offline and out of business. 

In 2016, Koster left Monaco and moved back to the Netherlands. On December 31, 2015, Intertrust Curacao resigned from Sorrento BV. On January 1, Rob Koster became the Director of Sorrento BV, as detailed below. Mission accomplished.

Koster then began investing in Dutch real estate and hired / partnered with Utrecht real estate agent Jerry Saffrie so he could claim box three which avoids most if not all Dutch taxes on real estate income. As long as Koster would not work in the company and / or manage the real estate it is legal. However, emails show Koster was not just a passive investor but was actively working for the his company Covast to raise funds and to expand the business. Koster immediately closed his email account when questions began to surface about his activities.

Koster and Saffrie identified an old post office in Harderwijk for redevelopment. Their offer was accepted, but Koster was missing 400,000 Euro's. He urgently needed to find an investor for the money or they would not be able to close on the property. 

As time was running out and Koster became desperately solicited and accepted questionable funds from Dominical republic socialite and expelled ex Monaco resident Hugo Sluimer who he knew was accused of running a massive multi million international money laundering and tax evasion scheme in the United States for himself and 6 other Finnish nationals including Mikko Pakkanen. Sluimer is believed to have moved more than $50 million USD through offshore companies in and out of the US. Documents show that Koster was fully aware of the serious accusations against Sluimer but he needed the money and looked the other way.  This desperate act potentially implicates Koster as an accomplice in Sluimer's massive offshore scheme he refers to as the "Clean formula". 

Such funds come with perpetual issues, especially when borrowing millions from the Rabobank and other financial institutions to invest in Dutch real estate. Koster ought to have disclosed Sluimer’s scheme to the banks, which would typically trigger a denial or at least an investigation. 

Nevertheless, Koster confirmed that both his company Covast Development BV and Rabobank approved Sluimer's involvement and accepted the money. If Sluimer and Koster disclosed the tax evasion and money laundering accusations when applying for the Rabobank loan has not been answered by the men. 

Instead of resolving the issue, Koster has only dug himself deeper, trying to conceal the truth and aiding and abetting Sluimer. He has been accused of threatening a witness and his wife, sending harassing emails to her workplace, etc In WhatsApp messages, he initially denied any involvement with Covast Development or receiving any money from Sluimer, which he later admitted were lies. 

According to WhatsApp messages, Koster is also connected to Mikko Pakkanen, Sluimer’s business partner, who is likewise accused of financial crimes in Miami, Florida in the same scheme. It raises the question: Did Rob Koster also accept money from Mikko Pakkanen?

Currently, Sluimer refuses to release his US tax returns, which could easily exonerate Rob Koster from any wrongdoing. Why does Koster not demand the tax returns is surprising and alarming. 

Koster is at a critical juncture where he must decide between continuing to protect and help Hugo Sluimer which could have detrimental consequences, or choosing for the truth.  

Did Rob Koster disclose questionable funds to the Rabobank?