Miranda Kerr dragged into $4bn fraud row

Top model urged to return diamond jewellery worth millions of dollars given to her by Malaysian financier

Miranda Kerr is the latest celebrity to be embroiled in an investigation into a multibillion dollar Malaysian fraud scandal after the model was asked to return diamonds given to her by a financier. The US justice department is investigating “misappropriation” worth $4.5 billion.

MIRANDA KERR is the latest celebrity to become embroiled in a long-running investigation into a multibillion dollar Malaysian fraud scandal after she was asked to return diamonds given to her by a financier.

Last week, the US justice department, which has been investigating the scandal-hit 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investment fund, announced that they believed $4.5billion (£3.5billion) has been misappropriated from 1MDB, which was set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to promote economic development.

Leonardo Dicaprio, the Oscar-winning actor, last week returned a $3.2million Picasso and Marlon Brando’s Oscar statue to the US government, after investigations showed they were given to him by the Malaysian financier Jho Low.

Now SABM, an NGO working in Australia to support Malaysian causes, has asked Kerr to follow Dicaprio’s example and return the gifts from Low.

The two reportedly dated in 2014, shortly after she divorced British actor Orlando Bloom.

Mr Low spent approximately $9million in 2014 buying jewellery for Kerr, according to the suit. He bought a necklace with a 11.72 carat heart-shaped diamond for $1.29 million, with Kerr’s initials “MK” inscribed on the back.

The necklace was given to Kerr as a Valentine’s Day gift, according to the lawsuit. Later that year, Mr Low bought an 8.88-carat pink heart diamond pendant worth $4.8million, also as a gift for Kerr.

It is not suggested that Kerr has broken any laws. Representatives for Kerr, who married Evan Spiegel, the Snapchat cofounder and CEO late last month, had no comment and she has not been contacted by police.

SABM Australia, based in Melbourne, said it was “not alleging any wrongdoing by Miranda Kerr” but called for her to “hand over all jewels gifted to her”, according to a statement obtained by The Guardian.

The US justice department is seeking to seize a total of about $1.7 billion in assets that were bought with misappropriated funds.

Last week it alleged that nearly

$30 million of the stolen funds was used to buy jewellery for the prime minister’s wife. The filings lodged at the US District Court in Los Angeles yesterday did not identify Mr Najib or his wife, Rosmah

Mansor, by name, but said the jewelry purchases were for the wife of “Malaysian Official 1.” Malaysian and US government sources have previously confirmed that “Malaysian Official 1” refers to Mr

Najib.

The accusations will provide further ammunition for Mr Najib’s political rivals, who often criticise his wife for lavish spending, and come at an awkward time for the Malaysian leader as he had been expected to call a snap election later this year.

In a statement last week, the prime minister’s office said it was “concerned by the unnecessary and gratuitous naming of certain matters and individuals that are only relevant to domestic political manipulation and interference.”

Mr Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing. Mr Low, whose whereabouts are unknown, could not be reached for direct comment. In an emailed statement through a representative, Low said the justice department’s actions were “a further example of global overreach in pursuit of a deeply flawed case”.

The statement read: “The US Department of Justice’s latest move continues its inappropriate efforts to seize assets despite not having proven that any improprieties have occurred.” Kerr, 34, separated from her husband of three years, Orlando Bloom, in 2013. On May 27, Kerr and Mr Spiegel married at a private ceremony at their home in Los Angeles. Guest arrived in blacked-out limos, and no photographs have been seen, although Kerr was heard serenading her new husband with the Shania Twain song, Still the One.

The couple then spent their honeymoon on the Fijian island of Laucala, where rooms cost between $6,000 and $60,000 a night.

‘[While] not alleging any wrongdoing by Kerr…[we call for her to] hand over all jewels gifted to her’