Bermuda resident and oil tycoon John Deuss has cut a $47 million deal with prosecutors in Holland to settle allegations of money laundering.The former chairman of Bermuda Commercial Bank was arrested in Bermuda in 2006 and voluntarily extradited to his homeland to face a slew of charges.Last year he was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined $409,000 by a Dutch court for banking without a licence and not reporting unusual transactions. Another, more serious charge — being a member of a criminal organisation — was not proven, but Mr Deuss faced a fourth charge relating to his First Curacao International Bank (FCIB).According to news reports, customers moved money among FCIB accounts in a manner resembling money laundering.Prosecutors also alleged the bank was used for carousel fraud — a scheme in which culprits falsely claim VAT payouts, and seek refunds from the government. The complicated tax swindle was said to have cost the UK billions of euros in tax every year.Mr Deuss was alleged to have netted $100 million from the practice, but has always maintained his innocence. None of the allegations were related to the businessman’s commercial interests in Bermuda.The settlement, which was agreed this week, will enable Dutch authorities to recoup almost half the funds allegedly lost, while finally ending a seven-year legal headache for Mr Deuss.“The investigation has kept the parties busy for almost seven years already, and it is time-consuming and costly,” Mr Deuss said in a statement.“The settlement is the result of pragmatic considerations. The legal proceedings would have dragged on for years on end. This is now prevented.”Last year Mr Deuss told The Royal Gazette he was considering appealing the two convictions handed down last year, although it is understood that, as part of this week’s settlement, any appeal proceedings will be dropped.“The Dutch court case was about banking in the Netherlands without a licence, having a branch office in the Netherlands without a licence, failure to report unusual transactions and participating in a criminal organisation. We were acquitted on the two principal issues,” he said, in a 2012 interview, adding that the convictions were “clearly wrong”.“The court ruled however that the administrative services rendered by our office in Berg en Dal, Holland, amounted to a ‘branch office’ of the bank in the Netherlands. Therefore unusual transactions, which we filed in Curacao, should have been filed in the Netherlands.”