At the center of the alleged web of transfers that drained the fund and fooled global banks is Low, 34. In recent years Low has attracted attention as a zelig of high living -- confidante of the prime minister’s family, buyer of rare paintings, companion to Paris Hilton. Prosecutors portray him as a puppet master with a frat boy sensibility.

Low’s E-mail

“Bro, here is outline of the issues I would like to discuss,” Low wrote in an e-mail to an unnamed Goldman Sachs employee in March 2009, just as the fund was about to relaunch with help from the bank. In the same e-mail, Low writes “there is also the issue of transparency and will the money go towards portfolio investments or be used to buy strategic stakes in companies?”

Low has previously denied any wrongdoing. Neither Low nor any of the other individuals mentioned by name or otherwise alluded to are defendants in the civil forfeiture complaints.

Seychelles Company

Transparency, or the lack thereof, emerges as a consistent theme throughout the 1MDB saga. Two months after writing that e-mail, prosecutors say, Low established a Seychelles company called Good Star Limited, of which the sole director was listed as Smart Power. Smart Power, in turn, was controlled by Low.

In September 2009, 1MDB officials met in Kuala Lumpur with the fund’s board of directors to propose a $1 billion investment in a joint venture with an oil exploration company, PetroSaudi. Before agreeing, the board asked 1MDB’s management to use an outside expert to assess the value of PetroSaudi’s assets and to find out if PetroSaudi could match 1MDB’s money with a comparable investment in the joint venture.

A week later, 1MDB’s board and top managers planned to meet again, according to the civil suit. Prior to the meeting, Low reached out to Najib directly, speaking with him by phone, the filings said. Low attended the meeting, and the investment was approved.

PetroSaudi Investment

According to the agreement, the Malaysian fund would transfer the $1 billion to the joint venture bank account at BSI Bank. Unbeknownst to the 1MDB board, the deal also called for the venture to pay back a $700 million loan from PetroSaudi a few days after the $1 billion investment, the U.S. complaints said. The only problem: PetroSaudi never made such a loan, according to the filings.