The Justice Department announced Thursday that it returned an additional $452 million allegedly misappropriated 1Mayaysia Development Berhad funds to Malaysia.
This brings the total returned to more than $1.2 billion.
According to court documents, the funds from 1MDB, formerly Malaysia’s investment development fund, were laundered through major financial institutions worldwide, including in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, and Luxembourg.
This is the largest recovery to date under the Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. The funds include both funds finally forfeited and funds the Department assisted in recovering and returning. The Department continues to litigate actions against additional assets allegedly linked to this scheme.
As alleged in the civil forfeiture complaints, from 2009 through 2015, more than $4.5 billion in funds belonging to 1MDB were allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates, and Low Taek Jho, aka Jho Low.
This was done through a criminal scheme involving international money laundering and embezzlement. Some of the embezzlement proceeds were also allegedly used to pay bribes, according to the Department of Justice.
1MDB was created by the government of Malaysia to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment.
Its funds were intended to be used for improving the well-being of the Malaysian people.
Instead, funds held by 1MDB and proceeds of bonds were spent on extravagant items:
Luxury homes and properties in Beverly Hills, New York, and London
A 300-foot superyacht
Art by Monet and Van Gogh.
The funds also were sent into numerous business investments, including a boutique hotel in Beverly Hills, a movie production company that made “The Wolf of Wall Street” while the embezzlement scheme was ongoing, the redevelopment of the Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan, and shares in EMI, the largest private music-rights holder.
As alleged, other funds were provided to various public officials and co-conspirators.
A civil forfeiture complaint is merely an allegation that money or property was involved in or represents the proceeds of crime.
These allegations are not proven until a court awards judgment in favor of the United States, which has occurred in the cases that have led to these recoveries.