DiCaprio testifies before grand jury on 1MDB
KUALA LUMPUR: Hollywood heart-throb, Leonardo DiCaprio has provided testimony before a grand jury on the 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) financial scandal reported The Washington Post.
The move is part of the United State’s Department of Justice’s (DoJ) investigation into the financial scandal.
The daily said the actor had made the “secret appearance” before the Washington DC grand jury in recent months.
Prosecutors emphasised that DiCaprio was not a target of the probe.
It said prosecutors believed that they could provide useful insights about fugitive financier, Low Taek Jho, and his role in the scandal.
“Grand jury proceedings are secret, so it is unclear exactly what DiCaprio told grand jurors. Also unclear is how authorities got him into and out of the federal courthouse without drawing notice,” said the report.
DiCaprio was among Hollywood top stars that Jho Jho Low, is reportedly friends with and had been lavished with expensive gifts and parties.
The star was presented with Marlon Brando’s best actor Oscar statuette for 1954 film, On the Waterfront, for his birthday and a US$3.2 millionlion (RM13.19 millionlion) Picasso painting, which he is surrendering to US authorities after the scandal broke.
Money allegedly stolen from 1MDB was also used to fund DiCaprio’s 2013 blockbuster, The Wolf of Wall Street, through US production firm Red Granite, which was co-founded by Riza Aziz, the stepson of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
DiCaprio had thanked Low by name when he accepted the Golden Globe for his role in the film.
Hundreds of millions were also used, mainly by Riza and Low, to purchase high-end real estate in Beverly Hills, New York and London, a Monet painting for US$35 million (RM144 million), a Van Gogh for US$5.5 million (RM22.6 million), a US$35 million (RM144 million) Bombardier jet, a US$100 million (RM411 million) stake in EMI Music Publishing, and a US$250 million yacht (RM1 billion).
The Washington Post also reported that former Fugees rapper Prakazrel “pras” Michel was involved in setting up accounts to help fund Low’s lobbying effort to end the probe.
The daily said that Michel had also hired the owner of an investment firm to press the case with the Trump administration.
Prosecutors added that his lobbying was unsuccessful.
It also said Michel had denied wrongdoing.
Low was charged in a US federal court late last year with theft and money laundering.
The US DoJ launched a probe following claims that stolen Malaysian public money was laundered through the US financial system, and filed lawsuits seeking some US$1.7 billion (RM7 billion) in assets allegedly purchased with the cash.
In its civil suits, the department said more than US$4.5 billion (RM18.5 billion) was stolen from 1MDB by high-level officials at the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2015.
Low was also charged in absentia in Malaysia last year with money laundering and financial fraud.
The court has issued arrest warrants for Low, his father and four other former executives of the firms, and will be seeking the aid of international authorities including Interpol to bring them back to face the charges here.
Low has maintained his innocence against all charges.