Joran van der Sloot claims Natalee Holloway’s mother ‘tricked’ him into FBI sting

Joran van der Sloot made the bizarre accusation that Natalee Holloway’s mother ‘cheated’ him in an FBI sting that led to his accusation in relation to the unsolved murder case, DailyMail.com can reveal .

The convicted killer, who is currently in prison in Peru for an unrelated murder, is the prime suspect in Natalee’s disappearance from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005, when she was 18.

The teenager was last seen leaving a nightclub with van der Sloot and two of his friends. Her body was never found and she was declared legally dead in 2012.

Van der Sloot now faces extradition to the United States on federal extortion charges.

He is accused of promising to lead Natalee’s family to her body in exchange for $250,000 in 2010.

van der Sloot faces extradition to the United States for extortion after allegedly promising to lead Natalee’s family to her body in exchange for money. But his lawyer has now claimed it was Natalee’s mother Beth (pictured) who approached him to offer him money

Natalee disappeared from the Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 during a school trip

A grand jury indicted him that year on one count of wire fraud and extortion, each of which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

But her lawyer, Maximo Altez, has now made the extraordinary accusation that it was in fact Natalee’s mother, Beth, who approached van der Sloot to offer him money if he took her to the body of her daughter.

“Joran wants to be extradited because he is innocent of the charges,” Altez told DailyMail.com. “He was living his life in Aruba and got a call from Beth Holloway, who cheated on him.

“She said, ‘Joran, tell me where the body is and I’ll give you $250,000. He never asked for money, she offered it.

She even gave him a promotion and he never asked for the rest. He only received $25,000.

Altez explained that his client is a “sick person” and a “compulsive gambler”, who “needed the money to gamble in the casino”.

He claimed Ms Holloway ‘took advantage of him’.

Describing a somewhat confusing case for the defense, Altez said his client admits to making up the location of Natalee’s body, adding: “He [van der Sloot] says if he’s guilty of anything, it’s fraud. But in reality, he is sick.

But he later clarified that the Dutchman “is innocent of both counts [of wire fraud and extortion]’.

Natalee’s body was never found and she was declared legally dead in 2012

Natalee is seen in casino security footage at a table with van der Sloot shortly before she disappeared

Aruba police are seen arresting suspect Joran van der Sloot in July 2005, before releasing him for lack of evidence

The lawyer said the killer initially asked him to appeal the extradition, but on Monday sent him a letter saying he wanted to travel to the United States to clear his name.

Ms Holloway’s attorney, John Q. Kelly, declined to comment on the allegations.

But they are likely to be taken as an insult to a bereaved family who have already been tormented by van der Sloot’s ever-changing explanation for Natalee’s disappearance.

When questioned, van der Sloot allegedly first claimed to have dropped off Natalee at a hotel, before later stating that he left her alone on a beach.

In his 2007 book, “The Case of Natalee Holloway: My Own Story of Her Disappearance in Aruba,” van der Sloot admitted to lying to police and apologized to the Holloways.

He wrote: “I understand that my lies in the past have seriously tarnished my credibility.”

He maintained his innocence, explaining that he left an inebriated Natalee on the beach, where he said she wanted to “look at the stars”.

US prosecutors allege van der Sloot contacted Ms Holloway in 2010 asking for $25,000 to reveal the location of her daughter’s body – then another $225,000 when the remains were discovered.

During a taped sting operation, van der Sloot pointed to a house where he said Holloway was buried but in later emails admitted to lying about the location, an FBI agent said in a affidavit.

Later that year, van der Sloot was arrested in Peru for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was killed five years to the day after Natalee disappeared.

Peruvian prosecutors have accused van der Sloot of killing Flores, a business student from a prominent family, to rob her after learning she made money at the casino where the two met.

They said he killed her with “ferocity” and “cruelty”, beating her and then strangling her in her hotel room. He pleaded guilty in 2012.

van der Sloot abandons his wife, Leidy Figueroa, 33 (pictured left in 2014 shortly after they married), as he is now in a relationship with Eva Pacohuanaco (right), who is accused of smuggling drugs into her prison in peru

It comes after DailyMail.com revealed van der Sloot was dumping his wife of eight years for a ‘prettier, younger’ girlfriend accused of smuggling drugs to him in jail.

The killer married accountant Leidy Figueroa, 33, in a private ceremony at Piedras Gordas prison in July 2014, when Leidy was seven months pregnant with their daughter, Dusha.

But van der Sloot filed for divorce about a year ago after starting a relationship with Eva Pacohuanaco.

The 24-year-old Peruvian was charged with helping him smuggle nearly 300 grams of cocaine and 140 grams of marijuana to another prison in Juliaca, according to reports in Peru.

This earned the Dutchman an additional seven years on his sentence for Flores’ murder.

It is due out in 2038.