I wonder if they knew about his past.

It has been a minute since we have heard from this three named drug supplier/scam artist/cleaner who never met a scam he could say no to.

Apparently, last year, he produced a charity single with a bunch of A list behind the scenes players.

I wonder if they knew about his past.

Raffles van Exel

Ronald McDonald House

Whitney Houston’s close friend, Raffles van Exel, admits to removing evidence from singer’s hotel room after her death

A man who previously confessed to clearing Whitney Houston’s death suite is back under the microscope with revelations the superstar singer died with cocaine in her system but not in her room.

Raffles van Exel, a Dutch entertainment consultant now living in West Hollywood, admitted he removed clothes and swept Houston’s Beverly Hilton suite in an interview with the influential Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

“Someone had to do it,” he told the paper, according to a translation. “The room was empty.”

The confession was printed Feb. 15 but resurfaced this week following news Houston died from accidental drowning connected with cocaine use and heart disease.

Van Exel, 32, didn’t give a specific timeline to De Telegraaf and has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the Daily News. – Source

Shady man is shady: Raffles van Exel Sold Whitney’s Casket Photo

The secret is finally out. The name of the person who sold Whitney Houston‘s casket photo is … Raffles van Exel!

According to a report published by Forbes Magazine last week, sources at the Whigham Funeral Home in New Jersey know for a fact that a man named Raffles van Exel is the person who sold the heart wrenching photo of the late R&B icon Whitney Houston’s body lying in her golden coffin.

But who the hell is this guy?

Forbes says that Raffles van Exel, who also uses the aliases Raffles Benson and Raffles Dawson, is a so called “close friend” of Whitney’s who attended not just one, but TWO private viewings for the singer held at the Whigham Funeral Home in New Jersey.

The first viewing was held on Friday, February 17th, the night before the memorial service, and the second was held Sunday morning before the burial.

Staff at the funeral home — who have vehemently denied having any involvement with the photo leaking throughout this entire ordeal — say they noticed van Exel right away.

Though he’s not a blood relative of the Houston’s, his apparent close association with Whitney Houston allowed him to travel with the family on a private jet from Los Angeles to New Jersey prior to the services.

Van Exel was also literally the ONLY non-family member who attended both viewings, and he also accompanied Patricia Houston — Whitney’s former sister-in-law and manager — in her car to those, as well as the the funeral and burial services. One source says van Exel even had his own bodyguard with him, which was a bit unusual.

The famous R&B singer George Benson (“Give Me the Night,” “Turn Your Love Around”) has his own story about Raffles.

Around 2005, he says, his lawyer had to send van Exel a cease and desist letter warning him not use the name Benson or describe himself as Benson’s son. George Benson has four living sons, and three deceased.

Benson says that around 2004-2005 van Exel had ingratiated himself into Benson’s mansion in Engelwood, New Jersey.

“He was there for a year on or off,” Benson told me. One day, Benson says, van Exel called him and told him to come home; he thought there’d been a robbery.

When Benson returned to the house, he discovered $25,000 in cash was missing. He’d taken out of the bank to pay for home repairs. By the time he made the discovery, van Exel had vanished.

“We never saw him or heard from him again,” Benson recalls. Without tangible proof, he couldn’t press charges with the local police. van Exel, as I reported in my original story, has sometimes been sued under the name Raffles Benson.

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Forbes contributor Roger Friedman continues:

He’s one of Hollywood’s mysteries. I first met him in 2005 hanging around the Jackson family during Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial. After Michael went abroad, Raffles was often seen with Michael’s father, Joseph Jackson.

He trades on being an “insider” when there’s a scandal. No one really knows him, but he’s always where there’s action and celebrities. – Source