Wolf of Graft Street: Fed goes after DiCaprio movie profits
It was crime infiltrating art imitating life. Federal officials charged a $3.5 billion Malaysian money-laundering scheme helped finance the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “Wolf of Wall Street” — the Hollywood tale that parallels the corruption charges.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak vowed Thursday to “fully cooperate” in the ongoing international probe that stands as the largest U.S. Justice Department asset recovery action in history.
“Allow the process to take its course, but I want to say categorically that we are serious about good governance,” said Najib. “We have to establish the facts first.
“This is a civil action, not a criminal action,” he continued. “Those people involved will have their say through the court process in the United States.”
U.S. officials seek to recover $1.3 billion of the missing funds, including profits from the Martin Scorsesedirected movie that earned five Oscar nominations.
The conspirators used some of their illicit cash to fund Scorsese’s tale of “a corrupt stockbroker who tried to hide his own illicit profits in a perceived foreign safe haven,” said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.
DiCaprio famously played the lead role of convicted fraudster Jordan Belfort, who was ordered to repay $110 million to 1,500 victims of his scam.
The identified conspirators included movie producer Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, the prime minister’s stepson, and businessman Low Taek John, a friend of Najib’s family.
A third scammer identified only as “Malaysian Official 1” was widely believed to be Najib. Court papers indicated that $681 million from a 2013 bond sale went directly into the official’s private account.
“It does not take a rocket scientist to figure it out,” said Malaysian activist attorney Ambiga Sreenevasan at a Kuala Lumpur news conference. “It’s our prime minister.”
The nation’s attorney-general, Mohamed Apandi, came to Najib’s defense Thursday, expressing his “strong concerns at the insinuations and allegations” brought against the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“To date there has been no evidence from any investigation conducted by any law enforcement agencies ... which shows that money has been misappropriated,” he said.
Apandi’s office, after investigating the $681 million bank deposit, announced in January that the funds were a donation from the Saudi royal family. The prime minister wound up returning most of the cash.
The state fund was launched by Najib shortly after his ascension to prime minister, pitched as a method of promoting various projects.
Prosecutors charged the agency was instead used to steal money through an intricate web of banks accounts and shell companies in the U.S., Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg.
Federal officials, in their California court filing, indicated they were hoping to seize proceeds from the 2013 movie, along with luxury properties in New York and California, artwork by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $35 million private jet.
“The Department of Justice is sending a message that we will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt,” said Los Angeles federal prosecutor Eileen Decker.
“Wolf of Wall Street” boasted a nearly $400 million worldwide box office gross.
Investigations of 1MDB are already underway in Switzerland and Singapore, with officials in the latter announcing Thursday that they had seized assets worth $176 million.
Najib has insisted on his innocence in the face of all the probes.
Red Granite Pictures, a production company co-founded by Riza, issued a statement insisting that all its funding for “Wolf of Wall Street” was legitimate and no laws were broken.
Courtesy New York Daily News
To date there has been no evidence from any investigation conducted by any law enforcement agencies ... which shows that money has been misappropriated