Today's article will cover stealing money, gambling, life like the Wolf of Wall Street, famous celebrities, luxury gifts and dirty politics. Let's do it!
An incredible case that took place in Malaysia has been stirring the world's media in recent months, but its tentacles reach to different corners of the globe. The whole scandal concerns the embezzlement of 1Malaysia Development Berhad, which is a sovereign wealth fund with assets around the world. The whole case started back in 2009 and went on for years.
An embezzlement unprecedented in the world
The US Department of Justice declared this case in 2016 as the biggest kleptocracy case to date. What was it about? Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak diverted approximately $700 million from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) into his accounts. The alleged mastermind of this entire fraud scheme was Jho Low, who was central to the international movement of 1MDB funds through shell companies and offshore bank accounts.
As of 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice found that Low and others, including officials from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, had diverted a staggering amount of more than $4.5 billion from 1MDB. These funds were used to live a life of luxury, purchase luxury items and real estate, superyachts, to fund the American film company Red Granite Pictures and the production of the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
The 1MDB funds supported the lavish lifestyles of Lowe, Najib and his wife, and other people. There have also been attempts to use the misappropriated funds for political donations and lobbying in the US. Outside of Malaysia, investigations into financial and criminal activities related to 1MDB have been launched in at least six countries. According to its publicly filed accounts, 1MDB had nearly $11.7 billion in debt by 2015.
Latest News
Breaking news brought us more highlights from this case. UK financial fraud investigator Richard Templeman found that Jho Low and his associate Erik Tan Kim Loong were alleged to have used stolen state funds to finance their high stakes gambling in Las Vegas casinos.
Jho Low received $11 million in his Las Vegas Sands LLC account and Kim Loong received $2 million. These sums were transferred to Las Vegas Sands LLC from Alsen Chance, which was allegedly a shell company used for money laundering. The $41 million was sent to Alsen Chance from Red Granite Capital, which was controlled by former Prime Minister Razak's stepson.
Funds amounting to $248 million from 1MDB were transferred to Red Granite Capital and Red Granite Pictures (both controlled by Razak's stepson). Also among those under investigation is Good Star Limited, a company owned by Jho Low, to which sums totalling more than one billion dollars were transferred between 2009 and 2011.
Back in 2022, the marketing manager of The Venetian casino in Las Vegas pointed out that Jho Low had gambled on their table games for sums in excess of $87 million in total.
Interestingly, Jho Low has been hanging out with various American celebrities and posing as a successful businessman for years. He reportedly gave Kim Kardashian a $325,000 Ferrari, and he gave Leonardo DiCaprio various works of art by Picasso and Basquiat. Low was also a major investor in The Wolf of Wall Street, a film that shows both the luxurious lifestyle and the embarrassing downfall of a financial con man.
Jho Low is currently living what we saw in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street. Once a multimillionaire who bought expensive clothes, jewellery, real estate and yachts, and played high stakes games in casinos, he is now hiding from the authorities and his luxurious lifestyle is over. An international arrest warrant has been issued for Lowe and he is believed to be hiding from justice in China. Jho Low and his father Larry Low are charged with money laundering to the tune of $457 million.
Former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been banned from leaving the country and police have seized cash and valuable items worth between $220 million and $269 million. It was the largest seizure in Malaysian history, with more than 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 423 valuable watches and 567 handbags from luxury brands seized. Najib has been arrested and currently faces 42 charges.
The whole scam was of such huge proportions that investigations into these crimes are ongoing in countries such as Cyprus, Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Source - wikipedia, vegasslotsonline, nst.com, fortune.com, malaymail.com, bharian.com, thedefensepost.com, visitlasvegas.com, channelnewsasia.com
