A Dutch tax adviser who was picked up by US border control staff after being released from prison has arrived back in the Netherlands.

Frank Butselaar had hoped to fly back to the Netherlands on Monday after spending 21 months behind bars in the US and Italy for filing fraudulent tax returns on behalf of Dutch DJ Nick van de Wall, better known as Afrojack.

Butselaar had been sentenced to 30 months for what a judge called a “gigantic” and deliberate fraud, but he was released nine months early for good behaviour. Cases relating to five other clients were dropped because of procedural errors.

He was arrested at his holiday home in Italy in July 2023 and extradited to the United States, where he had been held in prison ever since. His lawyers said he intended to leave the country immediately and had booked a plane ticket for him to fly back to the Netherlands.

But on his release he was taken into custody by the US immigration service ICE for being in the country illegally and returned to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, the Financieele Dagblad reported.

His family were not informed about his release from ICE custody until he was on board the plane which brought him back to the Netherlands on Thursday morning.

Butselaar told the paper he was informed on Wednesday morning that “an important person” had mediated on his behalf and that he would be able to leave if he had a ticket. “I was taken to JFK airport by two ICE agents,” he said.

Butselaar is also facing legal action in the Netherlands, where Afrojack and Tiësto have filed claims, while the Dutch prosecution department (Openbare Ministerie) has charged him with tax-related offences.