By BRADLEY HOPE and TOM WRIGHT
Wall Street Journal
July 20, 2016
In 1MDB lawsuit, Justice Department trying to seize more than $1 billion in assets
U.S. prosecutors have linked the prime minister of Malaysia, a key American ally in Asia, to hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly siphoned from one of the country’s economic development funds, according to a civil lawsuit seeking the seizure of more than $1 billion of assets from other people connected to him.
The assets, purchased by the stepson of Prime Minister Najib Razak and other persons connected to the fund, include high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York City, Los Angeles and London, artwork by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $35 million jet. They also include rights to the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the civil-forfeiture complaints say.
Mr. Najib isn’t named in the filings, which were made public Wednesday, and he isn’t directly accused by U.S. prosecutors of any wrongdoing. But there are 32 references in the complaint to “Malaysian Official 1,” who allegedly received hundreds of millions of dollars in funds siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. Continue reading “U.S. Links Malaysian Prime Minister to Millions Stolen From Development Fund”