Joran van der Sloot

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Joran van der Sloot : biography

06 August 1987 –

On April 19, 2009, Van der Sloot was portrayed by actor Jacques Strydom in the Lifetime television film Natalee Holloway, which was based on the bestselling book Loving Natalee: A Mother’s Testament of Hope and Faith by Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway. The movie brought in the highest television ratings in Lifetime’s 11-year history at the time. Van der Sloot himself watched the film one evening in 2010, according to his friend John Ludwick, and said that some parts were true while others were not.

In August 2009, Van der Sloot was spotted in Macau at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. He won over $12,000 that year in an online poker tournament. He described himself on his YouTube page as "a professional poker player" and cited the poker strategy guide Ace on the River as his favorite book. In early 2010, Van der Sloot sold his restaurant business and returned to Aruba after the death of his father.

Father’s involvement in the case

Joran’s father, Paulus Antonius Petrus Johanna "Paul" van der Sloot (February 15, 1952 – February 10, 2010), was arrested on June 22, 2005, for questioning in the disappearance of Holloway. Paul was ordered released on June 26 after three days of questioning. According to Aruba’s chief prosecutor, one of the Kalpoe brothers told investigators that Paul, who at the time was training to be a judge, advised that without a body, the police would have no case. Beth Twitty (Holloway’s married name at the time) pursued Van der Sloot’s parents in the ensuing media circus on Aruba. She said that Paul acknowledged that they could not control their son and had sent him to a psychiatrist.

On November 10, 2005, Paul van der Sloot won an unjust detention action against the Aruban government, clearing him as a suspect and allowing him to retain his government contract. The elder Van der Sloot then brought a second action, seeking monetary damages for himself and his family because of his false arrest. The action was initially successful, but the award of 40,000 Aruban florins (US$22,300) was reversed on appeal. The family’s finances were depleted by the legal expenses. In January 2007, Paul found work as a managing partner at the law firm that represented him.

On November 24, 2008, On the Record aired an interview with Joran van der Sloot in which he said that he sold Holloway into sexual slavery, receiving money both when Holloway was taken, and later on to keep quiet. He also alleged that he paid the Kalpoe brothers for their assistance, and that his father paid off two police officers who had learned that Holloway was taken to Venezuela. Joran Van der Sloot later retracted the statements made in the interview. The show also aired part of an audio recording provided by Van der Sloot, which he alleged is a phone conversation between him and his father, in which the father displays knowledge of his son’s purported involvement in human trafficking. According to Mos, the voice heard on the recording is not that of Paul van der Sloot. The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that the "father’s" voice is almost certainly that of Joran van der Sloot himself, trying to speak in a lower tone.

On January 8, 2010, Paul cancelled his partnership at the law firm where he had been working. On February 10, 2010, he died of a heart attack at the age of 57 while playing tennis in Aruba. Joran returned to Aruba soon afterward and turned to gambling. His mother Anita said that Joran had severe mental problems and blamed himself for his father’s death. He left before she could have him psychiatrically committed, leaving a note: "I’m gone, do not worry."

2010 charges in the United States

Around March 29, 2010, Van der Sloot allegedly contacted John Q. Kelly, legal representative of Natalee’s mother Beth Holloway, with an offer to reveal the location of her daughter’s body and the circumstances surrounding her death for an advance of US$25,000 against a total of $250,000. Kelly said that he secretly went to Aruba in April to meet with Van der Sloot, who was desperate for money, and gave him $100. Kelly notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation to set up a sting operation with the Aruban authorities. On May 10, Van der Sloot allegedly accepted the amount of $15,000 by wire transfer to his account in the Netherlands, following a cash payment of $10,000 that was videotaped by undercover investigators in Aruba. In exchange, Van der Sloot told Kelly that his father buried Holloway’s remains in the foundation of a house. Authorities determined that the information that he in return provided was false, because the house had not yet been built at the time of Holloway’s disappearance. Van der Sloot later e-mailed Kelly that he lied about the house. Holloway was shocked that the FBI did not promptly file extortion charges against Van der Sloot, allowing him to leave freely with the money to Bogotá, Colombia, on his way to Lima, Peru. The FBI and the office of the U.S. Attorney contended that the case had not yet been sufficiently developed.

On June 3, 2010, the U.S. District Court of Northern Alabama charged Van der Sloot with extortion and wire fraud. U.S. Attorney Joyce W. Vance issued an arrest warrant through Interpol to have Van der Sloot prosecuted in the United States. On June 4, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, authorities raided and confiscated items from two homes in the Netherlands, one of them belonging to reporter Jaap Amesz who had previously interviewed Van der Sloot and claimed knowledge of his criminal activities. Aruban investigators used information gathered from the extortion case to launch a new search at a beach, but no new evidence was found. The Solicitor General said they would not seek Van der Sloot’s extradition to Aruba. On June 30, a federal grand jury formally indicted Van der Sloot of the two charges. The indictment filed with the U.S. District Court seeks the forfeiture of the $25,100 that had been paid to Van der Sloot.

In an interview published by De Telegraaf on September 6, 2010, Van der Sloot admitted to the extortion plot, stating: "I wanted to get back at Natalee’s family. Her parents have been making my life tough for five years." Van der Sloot’s attorney said that his client was not paid for the interview and suggested that "maybe there were some mistakes in the translation."