Van der Sloot Extortion Rap

JUNE 3--Joran van der Sloot, the Dutch man suspected in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway--and now in the murder of a woman in Peru--was named today in a federal extortion complaint charging him with seeking $250,000 in return for information about the whereabouts of Holloway's corpse.

According to this complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama, van der Sloot last month received a $15,000 downpayment on a six-figure fee to 'provide the location of Natalee Holloway's remains in Aruba and information regarding the circumstances of her death.' The document does not disclose the identity of the person who wired the $15,000 to a Netherlands financial institution, and an FBI affidavit detailing the case against van der Sloot remains under seal.

Van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the May 2005 disappearance of Holloway, the Alabama teenager who traveled to Aruba as part of a high school graduation trip. Van der Sloot was arrested today in connection with the killing of Stephany Flores, 21, who was found dead Sunday in a Lima hotel room registered to van der Sloot. Flores was found face down on the floor with her neck broken. Van der Sloot was reportedly in Peru playing in a poker tournament at a Lima casino, raising the prospect that his buy-in may have been unwittingly provided by his alleged Alabama shakedown victim. (1 page)