Former Oranje footballer Romeo Castelen faces 3 year prison term for money laundering

The Public Prosecution Service in Zwolle recommended a three-year prison term for former international footballer Romeo Castelen on Thursday. Castelen is facing money laundering charges. Prosecutors also recommended a one-and-a-half-year sentence for his co-defendant, football scout Owen B.

Romeo Castelen, 42, was arrested at Schiphol Airport in 2019 when sniffer dogs detected 140,000 euros in cash in his carry-on bag. The ex-footballer claimed the funds came from casino winnings and selling watches. The prosecution dismissed this as unlikely, suspecting he planned to launder money with the technical director of Chinese club Zhejiang Yiteng.

The ex-professional footballer stated that he received substantial cash bonuses, partly for saving the Chinese club from relegation. “Things are done very differently there than here,” he said. He also said he borrowed money from the club’s technical director to purchase a home in Amsterdam and repaid it promptly, which, according to Castelen, accounts for why he transferred 150,000 euros to China after leaving the club.

Castelen's lawyer, Gerald Roethof, said the former footballer earned millions during his career, including at HSV Hamburg. Handling large sums of cash was “normal” for him. In 2019, Castelen told authorities he intended to take the 140,000 euros to China to purchase a watch.

The prosecution stated that the fake contracts, which purported to show that B. worked as a scout for Zhejiang Yiteng, were drafted to hide money laundering after the bank questioned large transfers from China. In a chat message, B. was labeled “the scout who never scouts.” B. insisted he legitimately earned tens of thousands of euros for his scouting work with the Chinese club, and that other significant cash deposits into his account came from his work as a hairdresser for footballers.

Castelen represented Dutch clubs, including Feyenoord and RKC Waalwijk, before leaving for China in 2017. Between 2004 and 2007, he was also a member of the Netherlands national team.