US to seize US$1b in assets allegedly linked to 1MDB
WASHINGTON: The United States Justice Department on Wednesday moved to seize more than US$1 billion in assets, including luxury real estate and a jet allegedly bought with money pilfered from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Pilfered funds were notably spent on fine art and high-end US real estate, and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stepson also invested more than US$100 million to finance the 2013 Hollywood finan- cial crime caper The Wolf of Wall Street, according to the Justice Department.
“The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption,” Attorney-General Loretta Lynch said in prepared remarks to announce the legal action.
Lynch said the funds taken from 1MDB had been meant to help develop the Malaysian economy.
“Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates.”
Prosecutors are seeking to seize future film royalties owed to a firm owned by Riza Aziz, including those from the hit Martin Scorsese film that starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
They also identified nearly 20 other assets, including lavish real estate from Beverly Hills to a penthouse in New York’s Time Warner Center to London’s high-end Belgravia neighbourhood.
Also included were artworks by Monet and Van Gogh as well as a Bombardier Global 5000 business jet.
The complaint said the high-flying Malaysian businessman known as Jho Low had allegedly laundered hundreds of millions of illicit funds into the US, which funded the real estate purchases and a lavish personal lifestyle.
In one eight-month span between 2009 and 2010, Low allegedly transferred US$85 million to casinos in Las Vegas.
Najib is not named directly in the Justice Department filings.
They refer, though, to “Malaysian Official 1”, described as a “highranking official” in the Malaysian government with control over 1MDB.
According to the Justice Department filing, “Malaysian Official 1” was the “ultimate beneficiary” of a Malaysian bank account that held tens of millions of allegedly misappropriated funds.
Lynch did not explain why Najib had not been explicitly named, saying only that prosecutors had provided sufficient detail at this stage. “We essentially allege what we need to allege to obtain the legal process that we’re trying to obtain. We don’t go beyond that.”
The move to seize the funds, which is subject to what could be lengthy legal proceedings, emerges from a 2010 Justice Department anti-kleptocracy initiative intended to confiscate the ill-gotten gains of world leaders that pass through the US.
Switzerland and Singapore have frozen millions of dollars worth of assets on suspicion of 1MDB-related embezzlement and money-laundering, but no major figures have been brought to justice.
Red Granite Pictures, which produced The Wolf of Wall Street, was named in the federal complaint.
It said it was unaware of any inappropriate funding.
“To Red Granite’s knowledge, none of the funding it received four years ago was in any way illegitimate and there is nothing in today’s civil suit claiming that Red Granite knew otherwise. Red Granite continues to cooperate fully with all inquiries and is confident that when the facts come out, it will be clear that Riza Aziz and Red Granite did nothing wrong.” AFP