The scheme, which is the subject of inquiries in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Malaysia, hinged on a collusive relationship between officials in charge of 1MDB and Low, the complaints said. Low helped Najib’s stepson launch his career as a movie mogul by supplying the funding for the hit movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” it said.
It also relied on the perpetrators’ ability to create shell companies whose titles mimicked the names of legitimate businesses, prosecutors said. For example, they said, 1MDB funneled more than $1 billion in 2012 to a company called Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners, a shell company owned by a friend of Low’s that has nothing to do with the Blackstone Group, a private equity group listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Singapore Account
The Blackstone that purportedly benefited from 1MDB funds was controlled by Eric Tan, described in the complaints as Malaysian and a “friend and associate” of Low. 1MDB in 2012 raised funds in two bond offerings through Goldman Sachs, and more than $1 billion of the $1.367 billion that was misappropriated from the sales wound up in Tan’s Blackstone account in Singapore.
According to the Justice Department filings, Tan’s only connection to 1MDB was his relationship with Low. Efforts to contact Tan were unsuccessful.
Shortly after receiving the money, Blackstone transferred at least $30 million to an account owned by the unnamed Malaysian government official cited in the complaints, whose description matches that of Najib. The premier until a few months ago served as chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board.
Najib has previously acknowledged receiving almost $700 million in his personal bank accounts before the 2013 general election. He said the money was a personal donation from the Saudi Arabian royal family and most of the money was later returned. He was cleared by the country’s attorney-general of any graft over the case.