Former Dutch international Romeo Castelen sentenced to prison for money laundering

[p]The court found it proven that [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/castelen-romeo/ne9ACTRd/"]Castelen[/a] laundered several million euros in undeclared funds through the Chinese club Zheijiang Yiteng (now known as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/shaoxing-keqiao-yuejia/WriK71S4/"]Shaoxing Keqiao Yuejia[/a]) with the help of the club's sporting director. Castelen played for the club until 2017.[/p][p]Before that, he was under contract with clubs including [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/feyenoord/8zjySeoN/"]Feyenoord[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/hamburger/v9k3aY5F/"]Hamburger SV[/a] (from 2007 to 2011). He played for the Dutch national team 10 times.[/p][image alt="Castelen's last few seasons in numbers" id="ab2664cd-9d9e-4300-81d0-993b003e8730" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="d916dee3-319c-4cdb-9024-1c8eec5e1fe6" original-width="1200" original-height="1200" /][p]In 2019, when Castelen was about to fly to China, he was arrested at Schiphol Airport. Authorities found 139,000 euros in his carry-on luggage. Castelen claimed the money came from casino winnings and selling expensive watches.[/p][p]A co-defendant also received a prison sentence and a fine. Prosecutors had sought a three-year prison term for Castelen. The former professional plans to appeal the verdict.[/p]