Low Taek Jho[lower-alpha 1] (born 4 November 1981),[2] often called Jho Low,is a Malaysian businessman and international fugitive,wanted by authorities in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal (1MDB scandal).[3][4][5] He has been named the mastermind of the massive fraud,which prosecutors allege was a scheme to siphon US$4.5billion from 1MDB into Low's personal accounts.[6][7][8][9][10] He is the beneficiary of numerous discretionary trust assets said by the US government to originate from payments out of the Malaysian 1MDB fund. Low has maintained his innocence and contends that Malaysian authorities are engaging in a campaign of harassment and political persecution due to his prior support of former Prime Minister Najib Razak,[11] whose part in the 1MDB scandal had led to Najib being convicted on seven counts of abuse of power,money laundering and criminal breach of trust.[12][13]
Low was born to a wealthy Malaysian Chinese family. He is of Teochew descent and he grew up in George Town,on Penang Island. His family has traditionally maintained a low profile. His grandfather Tan Sri Dato’Low Meng Tak was a businessman born in Guangdong in China.[14] Meng Tak had interests in iron-ore mining and liquor distilleries in Thailand in the 1960s and 1970s,and in real estate in Thailand,Malaysia,and Hong Kong.[14] Low's father Tan SriLarry Low Hock Peng founded investment holding company MWE Holdings.[15][16]
Although earlier in his career Low had often claimed to be investing and making purchases on behalf of other investors or "friends" to maintain a low profile about his family's wealth,in 2015 Low said that his family had considerable independent means.[21][18] While a 2015 New York Times article suggested that his family was of "somewhat deflated affluence,"[21] a 2014 Wall Street Journal profile had called him a "scion."[25]
Career
Low's first major deal was the Kuwait Finance House's 2006 purchase for US$87million of a luxury high-rise apartment building in Kuala Lumpur.[14] According to The New York Times,"By 2007,Low had formed an investment group that included a Malaysian prince,a Kuwaiti sheikh and a friend from the United Arab Emirates who went on to become ambassador to the United States and Mexico,and is now one of the most powerful right hand persons for the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi."[21] By 2010,Low had consolidated his fortune into Jynwel Capital,of which Low was the principal steward.[14]
As steward of Jynwel,Low cultivated relationships with some of the world's largest and most reputable sovereign wealth funds,including Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co and the Kuwait Investment Authority.[26] Jynwel is connected with deals including the acquisition of New York's Park Lane Hotel for US$660million in 2013 with The Witkoff Group and Mubadala;the takeover of Coastal Energy in 2014 for US$2.2billion;and the buyout of EMI's music publishing business in 2012 for US$2.2billion with the Blackstone Group,Sony Corporation and Mubadala.[27] Low was the architect for Jynwel Capital's unsuccessful US$2.2billion bid to buy Reebok from Adidas AG in October 2014.[28]
Low supported Aziz in the establishment of Red Granite Pictures,a Hollywood production company responsible for films including Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber To.[29] Recovery of the rights in both movies was the subject of actions for recovery by the US Government in 2013 and 2016.[30] The claims were settled in August 2018,with the settlement stipulating that the payment should not be construed as "an admission of wrongdoing or liability on the part of Red Granite".[31]
In 2019,US authorities pursuing Low described him as a financial intermediary,which allowed him to use his connections to high net worth individuals and international institutions to launder the money stolen through manipulation of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad.[32]
Najib Razak became Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2009. Soon,he became president of the board of advisers for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB),a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. Although Low never received an official position,he admits that he occasionally "consulted" with 1MDB,and was involved in a number of transactions connecting his own interests with those of 1MDB,which he claimed were "arms-length and legally sound."[21][33]
The Wall Street Journal has reported that a $33.5million condominium in Manhattan was owned by a shell company under control of Low's family trust,and then was sold and transferred to a shell company controlled by Razak's stepson.[34] Another home in Beverly Hills,"known as the pyramid house for a gold pyramid in its garden",was owned by a shell company controlled by the Low family trust,and was sold and transferred to Razak's stepson by transferring shares of the shell company to him.[34]
In October 2016,Interpol published a red notice at Singapore's request to locate and arrest Low in an investigation related to 1MDB fund flows within its jurisdiction.[35] The request for assistance to provisionally arrest Low was sent to the Hong Kong Department of Justice in April 2016,according to a representative for Singapore's police,but the request was rejected by the Hong Kong authorities.[36]
Equanimity,the yacht owned by Low,is allegedly bought using 1Malaysia Development Berhad funds.
After the Malaysian general election in 2018,new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad re-opened the extensive investigations into the 1MDB matter and,despite prior findings by former Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that no crime had been committed,issued arrest warrants against Low.[37] The filing of these charges leading to the arrest warrant were described by a spokesperson for Low as "political reprisal" by the Mahathir regime which was described as having a disregard for the rule of law.[neutrality is disputed][38] In light of the warrants,some consider him a fugitive as he has reportedly been sought by the Malaysian authorities in connection with the 1MDB matter,notwithstanding that Low agreed to assist with the probe.[neutrality is disputed][39][40]
According to South China Morning Post reports,Low is still involved in affairs of his Hong Kong companies. He signed documents for private equity firm Jynwel Capital and non-profit group Jynwel Charitable Foundation in July 2018,[41] even though Malaysian authorities were looking to arrest him in connection with the 1MDB scandal which he has stated as politically motivated.[42] He was alleged to have been in discussions with the Malaysian government on a potential deal,but the Malaysian government and he did not come to a deal.[43]
Low allegedly purchased a US$325,000 white Ferrari as a wedding gift for Kim Kardashian in 2011.[44] The Department of Justice (DoJ) was reported to have sought restitution from other famous celebrities who had received gifts from Low,among them Leonardo DiCaprio,who has since returned Picasso and Basquiat paintings;and Miranda Kerr who returned diamond jewellery with a market value of US$8 million.[44][45][46]
Low invested $100 million for production of The Wolf of Wall Street,which was subsequently nominated for the Oscars. Leonardo DiCaprio specially thanked Low for his involvement during one of the awards ceremonies.[47] Red Granite,a productions company that was backed by Low,threw a lavish party in Cannes,France,complete with a performance by Kanye West.
In June 2017,the US Government,in proceedings brought against certain assets in the Central District of California,sought return of millions worth of assets derived from the Malaysian 1MDB wealth fund. On 1 November 2018,Low and two ex-Goldman Sachs bankers,Tim Leissner and Roger Ng Chong Hwa,were indicted by the United States Department of Justice in connection with the 1MDB allegations.[48][49]
On 31 October 2019,Low entered into a global,comprehensive settlement with the US government forever resolving all civil,criminal,and administrative proceedings concerning asset forfeiture claims against various Low-linked assets.[50][51] The settlement did not resolve the government's underlying money laundering and bribery charges and is not otherwise tied to the ongoing U.S. criminal case against him.[52]
In 2019,Low was accused of a connection to the Burning Sun scandal through his friendship with Korean musician Psy;Low,Psy and others denied the allegations.[53][54] The case was closed for lack of evidence.[55][56]
Low,born in Malaysia and granted Malaysian citizenship at birth,has reportedly possessed numerous passports obtained by economic citizenship.[58] Low is presumed to have used these passports,from Caribbean and Mediterranean nations,to evade arrest.[58]
Malaysia does not recognize dual citizenship,[59] and in June 2018,Malaysian immigration authorities revoked Low's Malaysian passport on the basis that having more than one passport is a criminal offence in Malaysia.[60]
In 2019,it was reported that Low had been granted a Cypriot passport years earlier,under a Cypriot citizenship investment scheme,[61] "within two days after investing in some property" in Cyprus.[62] At the time,Low had not yet been criminally charged for the 1MDB scandal,but was already under investigation.[63] Low's Cypriot passport came to light after the Cyprus Papers revealed that the Cypriot government,under the presidency of Nicos Anastasiades,had granted citizenship to Cambodian elites,bringing scrutiny to the investment scheme.[64]
Career as a fugitive
Low is believed to be residing in China where he secretly travels extensively through major cities. In November 2020,Al Jazeera reported that Low was currently living in Macau,in "a house owned by a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party."[65] He has managed to travel freely despite the Malaysian police submitting an Interpol red notice.[66][67][68] The Chinese government has denied harboring Low,despite him being filmed at Shanghai Disneyland on Christmas Eve 2019 on a witness's cellphone.[69][70]
In May 2023,Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that his government was collaborating with many countries to expedite Low’s extradition back to Malaysia.[71]
Politics
Electioneering in Malaysia
Consistent with his personal connections to the Najib Razak family,Low supported and funded the Prime Minister with 1MDB cash during the 2013 elections.[18] He organised a free pro-government concert in his home state of Penang featuring American musicians Busta Rhymes and Ludacris,[33] which was criticised by the local opposition government as unfair electioneering even though Low's close friend claimed the concert was for charity.[33][21]
Lobbying activities in the United States
According to a 6 May 2019 United States Department of Justice's indictment,Low was allegedly involved in a conspiracy to gain access to,and potentially influence,Barack Obama's 2012 campaign without disclosing the foreign origins of the money funneled to Obama's Super PAC.[72] The indictment against Low revealed that he directed the transfer of US$21.6 million from foreign entities to former Fugees rapper Pras in 2012 for funneling into the US election.[73]
Low was also helped by former Justice Department employee Higginbotham,who pleaded guilty to a charge in November 2018,to set up bank accounts for a lobbying campaign against the US investigations into the 1MDB scandal.[74][75] In response,a spokesman for Low stated that "Mr. Low has never made any campaign contribution directly or indirectly in the United States."[76]
The FBI has considered whether a donation of $100,000 to Trump Victory in 2017 originated with Low.[77][78][79]:340 The Wall Street Journal reported that $75 million was offered to Elliott Broidy,a businessman and a Republican fundraiser,and his wife if the Justice Department ended its probe into 1MDB.[80][79]:392
In June 2021,Low was charged by a federal grand jury for running a back-channel campaign to get the Trump administration to drop an investigation of Low and the 1MDB investment company.[81][82]
Social life
Low dated Elva Hsiao(left) from 2010 to 2012 and Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr(right) briefly in 2014.
From 2010 to 2012, he dated Elva Hsiao where the romance had blossomed to an unsuccessful marriage proposal around 2012, rumoring to cost over £1m.[88]
In early 2014, he had then started a romantic relationship with Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr.[89][86] In June 2017, Kerr surrendered $8 million in jewelry to the US government amid an inquiry into the scandal.[90] The jewelry had been given to her by Low in 2014, with whom she was at the time in a romantic relationship.[91]
Philanthropy
Low has contributed money to various charities.[92] However, much, if not all, of his charitable giving occurred after the 1MDB scandal began to unfold, and thus critics claim that the money provided to various charities was stolen from 1MDB and that Low's charitable giving is simply part of a public relations strategy to burnish Low's tarnished image.[93][92][94]
Prakazrel Samuel Michel, known professionally as Pras, is an American rapper. He is best known as a member of the hip hop group Fugees, alongside Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill. After the Fugees, he earned two Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, the Grammy-nominated song "Ghetto Supastar " featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa from the film Bulworth, and "Avenues" with Refugee Camp All-Stars and Ky-Mani Marley. He also collaborated with Jean and rock band Queen on the 1998 remix of "Another One Bites the Dust", which reached the top five on the UK Singles Chart. In 2017, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series, as a producer on the web series The Bay.
Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, one of the largest money-laundering and embezzlement scandals in history. He is the son of former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein. Najib Razak was the chairman of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from April 2009 to May 2018 and the president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) from November 2008 to May 2018, which had maintained control of Malaysia's government with a parliamentary majority for more than sixty years until the coalition's defeat in the 2018 general election.
China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) is a majority state-owned, publicly traded, multinational engineering and construction company primarily engaged in the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets, including highways, bridges, tunnels, railways, subways, airports, oil platforms, and marine ports. CCCC has been a contractor for numerous Belt and Road Initiative projects. It is included in the Fortune Global 500 list for 2016.
1Malaysia Development Berhad is an insolvent Malaysian strategic development company, wholly owned by the Minister of Finance (Incorporated).
Rosmah binti Mansor is the second wife of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. Like her husband, she was implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal (1MDB). On 1 September 2022, she was found guilty of corruption in relation to a school electricity project, fined $303m and sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
Sarawak Report is an opinion, gossip, commentary, and political activism blog focused on environmental and corruption issues in Malaysia. It has been largely self-published and operated from London since 2010 by Clare Rewcastle Brown. The blog had originally focused on the welfare of the indigenous people in Sarawak but eventually published original exposés on corruption scandals in wider Malaysia. In 2017, it gained wide recognition for its original and early exposure of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, which had led the Najib Razak-led Malaysian government to block the website. The blog was openly critical of the Barisan Nasional-led state and federal governments of Sarawak and Malaysia, and supportive of the Pakatan Harapan opposition.
Riza Shahriz bin Abdul Aziz, better known as Riza Aziz, is a Malaysian film producer and the co-founder of Red Granite Pictures, a Los Angeles–based film production company.
According to a 2013 public survey in Malaysia by Transparency International, a majority of the surveyed households perceived Malaysian political parties to be highly corrupt. A quarter of the surveyed households consider the government's efforts in the fight against corruption to be ineffective. Corruption in Malaysia generally involves political connections still playing an important role in the outcome of public tenders.
Elliott B. Broidy is a disgraced former American lobbyist and businessman. From 2005 to 2008, he served as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). In 2009, he was convicted in a public corruption and bribery case in New York.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, often referred to as the 1MDB scandal or just 1MDB, is an ongoing corruption, bribery and money laundering conspiracy in which the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was systematically embezzled, with assets diverted globally by the perpetrators of the scheme. Although it began 2009 in Malaysia, the scandal's global scope implicated institutions and individuals in politics, banking, and entertainment, and led to criminal investigations in a number of nations. The 1MDB scandal has been described as "one of the world's greatest financial scandals" and declared by the United States Department of Justice as the "largest kleptocracy case to date" in 2016.
The Citizens' Declaration was a declaration issued by an array of Malaysian political leaders on 4 March 2016 to demand Prime Minister Najib Razak's resignation from office. It was launched at a press conference chaired by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
2018 in Malaysia is Malaysia's 61st anniversary of its independence and 55th anniversary of Malaysia's formation.
Hasan bin Arifin is a Malaysian politician. He formerly served as Member of Parliament (MP) of Rompin for two terms. Hasan is a member of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a major component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
Tan Sri Dato' Low Meng Tak was a Chinese Malaysian businessman and philanthropist. He is the grandfather of international fugitive Low Taek Jho who allegedly stole more than $4.5 billion USD from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
The Kleptocrats is a 2018 documentary film produced by Mike Lerner and directed by Sam Hobkinson and Havana Marking that investigates the theft of over $3 billion from Malaysian government fund 1MDB. The scandal implicated several public figures, such as the former prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, his stepson, Riza Aziz, and missing fugitive Jho Low.
The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal is an ongoing political scandal in Malaysia, in which then-Prime Minister Najib Razak was accused of channeling over RM 2.67 billion into his personal bank accounts from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a government-run strategic development company. 1MDB was overseen by Najib as head of its advisory board. Following repeated calls for resignation by the public, Najib lost power in the 2018 Malaysian general election, and is currently on trial along with several key figures involved.
Billion Dollar Whale is a non-fiction book by The Wall Street Journal correspondents Tom Wright and Bradley Hope. Published on September 18, 2018, by Hachette Books, the book focuses on how Malaysian financier Jho Low allegedly masterminded a US$4.5 billion fraud in what is referred to as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal.
Najib Razak is the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, the son of former 2nd prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein. One of the most controversial leaders of the 21st century, his period of rule was marked by corruption, an extravagant lifestyle, and crackdown on free speech.
Man on the Run is a 2023 documentary film directed, written and executively produced by Cassius Michael Kim. The film revolves on the ongoing 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal and the involvement of former sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak and the fugitive businessman, Jho Low in a scandal that shook Malaysia. The film was released on 19 October 2023 in Malaysia.
↑ Story, Louise. "Malaysia’s Leader, Najib Razak, Faces U.S. Corruption InquiryArchived 2 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine ". The New York Times 22 September 2015. "The US Government civil cases are focused on properties in the United States that were purchased in recent years by companies that belong to the prime minister's stepson as well as other real estate connected to a close family friend"
1 2 "U.S. Entertainer/Businessman and Malaysian National Charged With Back-Channel Lobbying Campaign to Drop 1MDB Investigation and Remove Chinese Dissident From U.S."(PDF). U. S. Department of Justice. 11 June 2021. According to the superseding indictment, Low Taek Jho, 39, also known as Jho Low, and Prakazrel "Pras" Michel, 48, are alleged to have conspired with Elliott Broidy, Nickie Lum Davis, and others to engage in undisclosed lobbying campaigns at the direction of Low and the Vice Minister of Public Security for the People's Republic of China, respectively, both to have the 1MDB embezzlement investigation and forfeiture proceedings involving Low and others dropped and to have a Chinese dissident sent back to China. Michel and Low are also charged with conspiring to commit money laundering related to the foreign influence campaigns. Michel is also charged with witness tampering and conspiracy to make false statements to banks.
1 2 Wright, Tom; Hope, Bradley (2018). Billion Dollar Whale. Hachette Books. p.340, 392. ISBN9780316436489. In December 2017, Larry Davis, Nickie's husband donated $100,000 to Trump Victory, a fund-raising committee for the president's reelection in 2020, allegedly using the money sent by Low. [p. 340] The Wall Street Journal reported that, at one point, $75 million was offered to Elliott Broidy, a businessman and Republican fund-raiser, and his wife if the Justice Department ended its probe into 1MDB. [p.392]
↑ Wright, Tom; Hope, Bradley (2018). Billion dollar whale: the man who fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the world. New York: Hachette Books. ISBN9780306873577.
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