[ad_1]
(WASHINGTON) – The Justice Department on Thursday, August 2, 2011 – The Malaysian Financial and Goldman Sachs Bankers accused in a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered trillions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund created to spur economic development projects in that country.
A three-count indictment charges Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, with misappropriating money from the state-owned fund and using it for bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials, to pay for luxury real estate, art and jewelry in the United States and to help finance Hollywood movies, including The Wolf of Wall Street.
Also available was Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violate foreign bribery laws. Another former bank official, Ng Chong Hwa, 51, also known as Roger Ng, was arrested earlier in Malaysia and accused of circumventing internal accounting controls, prosecutors said.
Leissner's attorney did not return messages seeking. It was not clear if Ng had a lawyer.
A spokesman for Goldman Sachs, which reportedly raised $ 6.5 billion through bond offerings for the fund, said the firm, "continuing to cooperate with all authorities investigating this matter."
Police in Malaysia said in July that Low had fled Macau to an unknown destination. Before facing criminal charges, New York City and Los Angeles club scenes. In 2012, he threw a lavish 31st birthday bash attended by Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian and other celebrities that The Wall Street Newspaper called the "wildest party (Las) Vegas ever saw."
Low, who remains at large, issued a statement through a spokesman maintaining his innocence.
"Mr. Low self-inquiringly, that the public keeps an open mind regarding this case, which he believes will vindicate him, "the statement said.
Leissner paying millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, according to short records. He was ordered to forfeit $ 43.7 million as part of his guilty plea.
The set of charges represents the first criminal investigations in the U.S. arising from the epic corruption scandal at the state investment fund known as 1MDB. The Justice Department in 2016 moved to recover more than $ 1 trillion stolen, filing a civil complaint that sought the forfeiture of property, including a Manhattan penthouse, a Beverly Hills mansion, a luxury jet and paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
Read more: The Accidental Whistleblower: Clare Brown Rewcastle and 1MDB
In a speech last year in Washington, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions denounced the scandal as "kleptocracy at its worst." The pilfered funds were used on a "lavish spending spree," the attorney general said, including a $ 265 million yacht and a $ 100 million investment in the music label EMI.
"In total, 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than $ 4.5 trillion in complex transactions and fraudulent transactions in the United States and Singapore," Sessions said.
The fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak to promote economic development. It relies primarily on debt to fund investment and economic development projects and is overseen by senior Malaysian government officials, according to short records.
Najib chaired its advisory board and the finance minister held veto power over its activities. Low, a friend of Najib's stepson Riza Aziz, had no official role at 1MDB but had considerable influence over its dealings and was in frequent contact with Najib, U.S. authorities have said.
"As noted in the indictment today, Mr. Low held no formal position at 1MDB, nor was he ever employed by Goldman Sachs, or the Governments of Malaysia or Abu Dhabi," Low's spokesman said.
The scandal has already had major political ramifications in Malaysia, where Najib in 2015 sacked his attorney general and a deputy prime minister for the answers over 1MDB. A parliamentary inquiry found many irregularities but had no mandate to prosecute.
Former leader Mahathir Mohamad, outraged over the scandal, came out of retirement and the opposition in the national elections, leading to Najib's ouster in May.
Najib and his former treasury chief were charged with 6.64 billion ringgit ($ 1.6 billion), charges that came out of 32 years of corruption, breach of trust and money laundering that Najib faces in connection with the 1MDB scandal.
Najib and Mohamad Irwan Serigar Abdullah, the former treasury secretary-general, pleaded not guilty to misappropriating government funds between December 2016 and December 2017. Police have also scored $ 266 million – during raids on apartments linked to Najib's family.
An attorney for Najib, Shafee Abdullah, dismissed the latest charges as "foolish."
Source link
