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Tag: Joran van der Sloot

  • Man accused of extortion in a US courtroom has pleaded not guilty

    Man accused of extortion in a US courtroom has pleaded not guilty

    Joran van der Sloot, the person accused of extorting the family of an American student who vanished in 2005, entered a not-guilty plea to the allegations.

    One of the last people spotted with Natalee Holloway, an American high school graduate who vanished while travelling to Aruba more than 18 years ago, was the Dutch national.

    In connection with a conspiracy to steal money from Holloway’s devastated family, Van der Sloot, 35, was charged with wire fraud and extortion at the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama.

    The brief hearing only lasted about three minutes. Van der Sloot was emotionless, and only responded ‘yes, sir’ when the judge asked if he understood the charges against him.

    Five years after her disappearance, van der Sloot contacted Holloway’s family and offered to lead them to her body in exchange for $250,000.

    An investigator working with the family and the FBI paid van der Sloot an upfront fee of $25,000, and the Dutch citizen revealed that Holloway was buried in the foundation of a house that was under construction at the time of her death.

    He also said that she died after falling and hitting her head on a rock.

    However, Holloway’s body was never found in the house’s foundation. Van der Sloot later admitted to fabricating parts of the story.

    Van der Sloot was extradited from Peru yesterday, where he is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for the murder of another woman, Stephany Flores, exactly five year’s after Holloway’s disappearance.

    On Thursday, van der Sloot transported from a maximum-security prison in the Andes Mountains to a detention center in Lima.

    There he was handed off to FBI agents, who flew with him to Birmingham, Alabama.

    Holloway’s parents, Dave and Beth Holloway, were both present for the arraignment. Both declined to take questions from reporters.

    ‘For 18 years, I have lived with the unbearable pain of Natalee’s loss,’ Beth Holloway said in a statement on Thursday. ‘Each day has been filled with unanswered questions and a longing for justice that has eluded us at every turn. But today, I am hopeful that some small semblance of justice may finally be realized.’

  • Joran van der Sloot moved to new Peruvian prison ahead his extradition to the US – Officials

    Joran van der Sloot moved to new Peruvian prison ahead his extradition to the US – Officials

    Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an Alabama teen, was being transferred to a different prison in Peru early on Saturday, according to officials. This was the first stage in what is anticipated to be his eventual temporary transfer to face prosecution in the United States.

    Officials with knowledge of the situation who spoke to journalists from CNN en Espaol said that Van der Sloot was being transferred from a maximum security jail in southern Peru to a prison in the capital, Lima.

    An earlier report from CNN en Espaol cited a source as saying that van der Sloot’s temporary transfer from Peru to the United States will start Friday night.

    Van der Sloot is set to be transferred to the US to face extortion and fraud charges related to an alleged plot to extort Holloway’s family after her disappearance, Peruvian officials have said. How long the transfer process would take is not yet known, officials told CNN en Español journalists.

    Maximo Altez, van der Sloot’s attorney, received a letter from van der Sloot last week asking him not to appeal his transfer to the US. “I want to go to the US,” van der Sloot wrote, Altez told CNN en Español Tuesday.

    Van der Sloot was involved in a fight inside his prison ward during visiting hours last week and suffered a cut to his fingers and some bruising, Altez said, adding that van der Sloot was placed in the prison’s medical section.

    Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

    He faces charges in connection with an alleged plot to sell false information about the whereabouts of 18-year-old Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000. Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot held in the Netherlands and through her attorney gave him another $10,000 in person, according to a 2010 US federal indictment.

    Once he had the initial $25,000, van der Sloot said he would show John Kelly, the Holloway family attorney, where Natalee Holloway’s remains were hidden, but the information turned out to be false, the indictment states.

    Natalee Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.

    Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained the men’s innocence throughout the investigation.

    In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.

    Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged in her death.

  • Joran van der Sloot seeks US transfer – lawyer

    Joran van der Sloot seeks US transfer – lawyer

    Joran van der Sloot, the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a teenage girl from Alabama, wants to be temporarily moved to the United States, according to his lawyer Maximo Altez.

    According to Peruvian officials, Van der Sloot will be extradited from their country to the US to face extortion and fraud charges relating to an alleged scheme to demand money from Holloway’s family after she vanished.

    Altez claimed that last week, van der Sloot sent him a letter requesting that the lawyer not challenge Altez’s admission to the United States. Van der Sloot wrote, “I want to go to the US,” according to Altez, speaking to CNN en Espaol on Tuesday.

    Van der Sloot was involved in a fight inside his prison ward during visiting hours on Saturday and suffered a cut to his fingers and some bruising, Altez said. He was placed in the prison’s medical section, Altez said.

    “It wasn’t a direct assault against him, it was a fight among some inmates and my client got involved when he tried to defend his friend, who was injured on the leg. As a consequence (Joran) got injured in his hand,” Altez told CNN en Español.

    The attorney had earlier said his client had been “severely” beaten, ABC News reported.

    Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison.

    “He (van der Sloot) was not beaten. He was not attacked,” a spokesperson for the Peruvian National Penitentiary Institute said in a statement sent to CNN en Español on Monday.

    The spokesperson did not comment further.

    Altez told CNN en Español that van der Sloot sent him another letter the day after the incident requesting his transfer to another ward or another prison.

    Altez can’t communicate directly with his client as there are no phones inside Peru’s Challapalca Prison, so they communicate by letter, he said.

    An attorney for the Holloway family, John Kelly, declined to comment when reached by CNN Tuesday.

    Van der Sloot faces extortion and fraud charges in connection with an alleged plot to sell false information about the whereabouts of 18-year-old Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000. Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to a bank account van der Sloot held in the Netherlands and through her attorney gave him another $10,000 in person, according to a 2010 US federal indictment.

    Once he had the initial $25,000, van der Sloot said he would show the attorney, Kelly, where Natalee Holloway’s remains were hidden, but the information turned out to be false, the indictment states.

    The indictment asks for van der Sloot to forfeit $25,100. That amount includes $100 Beth Holloway initially transferred to van der Sloot to confirm his account.

    Natalee Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.

    Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained the men’s innocence throughout the investigation.

    In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them citing insufficient evidence.

    Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged for her death.