Sorrento BV founder Rob Koster, No stranger to offshore strategies in hot water

IN THE INTEREST OF THE PUBLIC

Rob Koster, the founder of Lexa.nl and Sorrento BV, has landed in hot water as he knowingly solicited and accepted questionable funds from Hugo Sluimer in the Netherlands, who has been accused of money laundering and tax evasion in Miami, Florida. Public documents reveal that Koster himself is well-acquainted with offshore structures.

Rob Koster 

Koster successfully sold Lexa.nl and Kamernet.nl and relocated to the Principality of Monaco. Public records indicate that Koster's Dutch company, Sorrento BV, registered to his home address in the Netherlands, then changed its director to Intertrust BV Netherlands Antilles (Curacao) in 2009, as seen below:

PUBLIC PUBLICATIONS ABOUT SORRENTO BV Director Intertrust (Curacao) BV Netherlands Antilles took office on June 24, 2009.

Intertrust helps individuals and companies to "optimize" their taxes using complicated structures and are represented in many of the world’s 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.

Once in the Principality of Monaco, Koster launched Icampus.nl and BotenBoten.nl, which allegedly were used to siphon off the profits tax-free from the sale of Lexa and Kamernet. Both companies appear to be currently offline and out of business. Apparently, one of their advisors had told them to keep on building websites so they could pump out the money.

After several years in Monaco in 2016 Koster decided to move back to the Netherlands (Amsterdam). He did not need the offshore structure anymore. On December 31, 2015, Intertrust Curacao resigned from Sorrento BV and on January 1, Rob Koster became the Director of Sorrento BV, as seen below.

PUBLIC PUBLICATIONS ABOUT SORRENTO BV As of December 31, 2015, Director Intertrust (Curacao) BV Curacao Resigned Director Rob Koster took office on January 1, 2016.

The Netherlands can be a tax heaven too? Koster began investing in Dutch real estate and was constantly looking for investors. To avoid Dutch taxation on real estate, Koster hired Jerry Saffrie so he could qualify for the well known box 3. To qualify for box 3, Koster would not be allowed to manage the real estate business at all. However, documents clearly show that Koster worked there, was in charge of raising funds, and had other duties. This was not a passive investment.

Koster and Saffrie identified an old post office in Harderwijk with the idea to redevelop the project and made an offer. The offer was accepted, but Koster indicated that he was 400,000 euros short and needed to find the funds urgently, or he wouldn’t be able to close on the post office property. He started calling potential investors and introducers to find the money.

As time was about to run out, Koster desperately solicited and accepted money into Covast Development BV from Hugo Sluimer, whom he knew had been accused of running a multi million dollar offshore money laundering and tax evasion scheme in Miami, Florida for a group of Finnish Investors including Mikko Pakkanen. Ironically, Koster and Sluimer made this information public themselves. This desperate move could make Koster a potential accomplice in Sluimer’s offshore scheme and expose him to US and Dutch liabilities.

Hugo Sluimer (Left) Mikko P. Pakkanen (Center) Rob Koster (Right)

Questionable funds often come with never-ending problems, especially when you are borrowing millions from the Rabobank and other banks. The money better be clean. To be compliant, Koster was obligated to disclose that Sluimer's funds may have come from money laundering and tax evasion in the United States, which should automatically lead to a loan denial or at least an investigation. The authorities should have been informed too. However, Koster indicates that Jerry Saffrie CEO of Covast Development BV (CEO Jerry Saffrie) and the Rabobank approved Sluimer.

As these details are slowly coming out Koster is in hot water. Instead of trying to fix the problem, Koster has dug himself deeper and deeper to try and keep the truth from coming out and to protect Sluimer. He and Sluimer have threatened a witness and his wife on multiple occasions, sending emails to her work, writing fake articles, etc. Koster allegedly is spending a fortune on search engine optimization and pressuring platforms in an attempt to hide the truth from the general public and banks instead of providing answers. This could be seen as tampering with evidence and trying to cover up potential financial crimes.   

In WhatsApp messages, Koster suddenly claimed that he had nothing to do with Covast Development BV and never took a cent from Sluimer, which he now admits were lies. Why would Koster lie about Sluimer and Covast the company he founded? 

Sluimer currently refuses to release his US tax returns, which could exonerate Koster from any wrongdoing. How can Sluimer exonerate Koster and himself? He could release his 2009 through and including 2023 US Federal tax returns. In the returns, there should be tax withholding for his share of the 12 million USD gross profit made on the purchase and sale of the Setai PH B in Miami Beach. Sluimer, in a recorded call, claims that the taxes were withheld by his partner, Janne Keskinen, the Manager of Blue Key Investments, LLC. However, his own emails show he did not have an ITIN, which is required to withhold tax and file US taxes. 

Koster is at a critical juncture where he must decide between continuing to aid and abbet Hugo Sluimer which could have detrimental consequences, or simply help uncover the truth which could exonerate himself. In all cases, the public deserves the truth.