Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today the filing of civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than $1 billion in assets associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. 

Today’s complaints represent the largest single action ever brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

Attorney General Lynch was joined in the announcement by Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California, FBI Deputy Director Andrew G. McCabe and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

According to the complaints, from 2009 through 2015, more than $3.5 billion in funds belonging to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates.

With today’s complaints, the United States seeks to recover more than $1 billion laundered through the United States and traceable to the conspiracy. 1MDB was created by the government of Malaysia to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment, and its funds were intended to be used for improving the well-being of the Malaysian people.

Instead, as detailed in the complaints, 1MDB officials and their associates allegedly misappropriated more than $3 billion.

“The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption,” said Attorney General Lynch.

“With this action, we are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people.


Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates.

Corrupt officials around the world should make no mistake that we will be relentless in our efforts to deny them the proceeds of their crimes. ”

“According to the allegations in the complaints, this is a case where life imitated art,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.

“The associates of these corrupt 1MDB officials are alleged to have used some of the illicit proceeds of their fraud scheme to fund the production of The Wolf of Wall Street, a movie about a corrupt stockbroker who tried to hide his own illicit profits in a perceived foreign safe haven.

But whether corrupt officials try to hide stolen assets across international borders – or behind the silver screen – the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that there is no safe haven.”

“Stolen money that is subsequently used to purchase interests in music companies, artwork or high-end real estate is subject to forfeiture under U.S. law,” said U.S. Attorney Decker.

“Today’s actions are the result of the tremendous dedication of attorneys in my office and the Department of Justice, as well as law enforcement agents across the country.


All of us are committed to sending a message that we will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt, a platform for money laundering or a place to hide and invest stolen riches.”

“The United States will not be a safe haven for assets stolen by corrupt foreign officials,” said Deputy Director McCabe.

“Public corruption, no matter where it occurs, is a threat to a fair and competitive global economy.


The FBI is committed to working with our foreign and domestic partners to identify and return these stolen assets to their legitimate owners, the Malaysian people.

I want to thank the FBI and IRS investigative team who worked with the prosecutors and our international partners on this case.”

“Today’s announcement underscores the breadth of the alleged corruption and money laundering related to the 1MDB fund,” said Chief Weber.

“We cannot allow the massive, brazen and blatant diversion of billions of dollars to be laundered through U.S. financial institutions without consequences.”

As alleged in the complaints, the members of the conspiracy – which included officials at 1MDB, their relatives and other associates – allegedly diverted more than $3.5 billion in 1MDB funds.

Using fraudulent documents and representations, the co-conspirators allegedly laundered the funds through a series of complex transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts located in the Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States.

These transactions were allegedly intended to conceal the origin, source and ownership of the funds, and were ultimately processed through U.S. financial institutions and were used to acquire and invest in assets located in the United States.

In seeking recovery of more than $1 billion, the complaints detail the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB’s assets as it occurred over the course of at least three schemes.

In 2009, the complaints allege that 1MDB officials and their associates embezzled approximately $1 billion that was intended to be invested to exploit energy concessions purportedly owned by a foreign partner.

Instead, the funds were transferred through shell companies and were used to acquire a number of assets, as set forth in the complaints. 

The complaints also allege that the co-conspirators misappropriated more than $1.3 billion in funds raised through two bond offerings in 2012 and $1.2 billion following another bond offering in 2013. 

As further detailed in the complaints, the stolen funds were laundered into the United States and used by the co-conspirators to acquire and invest in various assets.

These assets allegedly included high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York and Los Angeles, a $35 million jet aircraft, works of art by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, an interest in the music publishing rights of EMI Music and the production of the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.

The FBI’s International Corruption Unit and the IRS-CI investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Woo S. Lee and Trial Attorney Kyle R. Freeny of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Kucera and Christen Sproule of the Central District of California prosecuted the case.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided additional assistance.

The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, to use those recovered asset to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.

Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to : kleptocracy@usdoj.gov

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A "very weird proceedings" in Malaysia

Why were similar proceedings not instituted in Malaysia?

After all, Malaysia is the natural jurisdiction since the company in question, 1MDB, is incorporated and carries on business here. Najib, Riza and Jho Low are Malaysians. 

So the nexus to Malaysia is greater than anywhere else.

Is it not embarrassing for the attorney-general of Malaysia to be reminded by his counter-part in the United States, under whose leadership the complaint was brought, that stealing from public funds by Najib is a criminal offence under Malaysian law. 

Thus, in Paragraph 499, seven separate offences under our Penal Code are listed as being violated: three provisions under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act are also identified in that Paragraph.

Bank fraud is a crime under at least three provisions under the Penal Code, as we are reminded in Paragraph 500. And the entire world knows about the universal application of Anti-Money Laundering Legislation (like AMLA) across the globe; a consequence of 9/11. 

And yet no criminal proceedings have been commenced in Malaysia!

Former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and former attorney-general Gani Patail will testify as to what happened to them a year ago when they tried to act against Najib. 

Unfortunately, the late Kevin Morrais’ role in the 1MDB scandal has never been publicly clarified, and remains a matter of rumour and speculation.

A climate of fear has enveloped all the senior office-holders of the major institutions of the nation. MACC, the inspector-general of police (IGP) and Bank Negara have gone silent. 

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been disbanded, and the auditor-general’s report has been 'marked an official secret' .

Because 1MDB was the company which directly suffered losses worth billions of ringgit, they should have filed civil recovery actions against persons like Jho Low and Najib, who were supposed to look after their interests but in fact were plundering it. 

Since the wrong-doers are still very much in control of 1MDB, it is not surprising that the company has not complained, much less resorted to litigation against anyone.

Litigation by other parties have so far been unsuccessful. 

I should disclose that I was part of the legal team that acted for some of the opposition parties and personalities when they sued Najib and 1MDB last July upon discovery of the US$681 million being credited into his personal account at Ambank.

The civil suit was summarily struck out as being wholly without merit, although all the contentions therein, based principally on the Sarawak Report and Wall Street Journal, have been corroborated by the US complaint.

Najib Abdul Razak

A minor criticism can be levelled against the complaint: its failure to actually name Najib Abdul Razak. 

The obvious inference is that it was a political decision not to shame a sitting prime minister most friendly to USA and its president. 

But the legal draftsmen, no doubt irritated by such political constraint to their freedom to plead in the manner of their choosing, make it crystal clear that Najib is “Malaysian Official 1”.

Thus, Paragraph 28 states that Malaysia Official 1 “is a high-ranking official in the Malaysian government who also held a position of authority with 1MDB”. 

At all material times, Najib is, and was, the prime minister, finance minister and chairperson of the advisory committee of 1MDB. 

No other member of the government held such triple functions, a fact expressly recognised in Paragraph 39 of the complaint.

Just in case any reader of the complaint has any difficulty in recognising Najib as Malaysian Official 1, it would be removed by reading the very next Paragraph, that is Paragraph 29 (indeed, the juxta-positioning of the 2 paragraphs is itself instructive). 

Riza Aziz is described as “a relative of Malaysian Official 1”. 

Riza is the stepson of Najib, and is not related to any other personality directly, indirectly or remotely involved in the 1MDB scandal.

In such circumstances, it is absolutely pointless for Najib and his loyal, diehard supporters to claim that because he is not named in the complaint, it does not refer to him.

 Indeed, the complaint cannot properly be understood in its entirety, unless one understands Najib’s dominance over 1MDB, as was the political and business reality.

The first reference to wrongdoing on Najib’s part appears in Paragraphs 99 to 102. 

Paragraph 99 states that US$20 million was transferred between February and June 2011 into Najib’s now notorious personal account with AmBank, Kuala Lumpur, from monies stolen from 1MDB. Paragraph 102 states that this was the same AmBank account which received US$681 million in March 2013.

The second corrupt action involving Najib is referred to in Paragraphs 178 and 193, Paragraph 178 states that 1MDB bond proceeds were diverted from their intended purpose for the personal benefit of among others, Najib, which further evidences “a misappropriation of public funds”. 

In the case of Najib, Blackstone in that transaction transferred at least US$30 million to his Ambank account: see Paragraph 193.

The third reference to corrupt monies received by Najib can be found in Paragraph 229 which states that during a five-day period in March 2013, 

US$681 million was transferred from the Tanore account to Najib’s AmBank account, from which US$620 was returned to the Tanore account in August 2013.

What happened to the difference of US$61 million, is not mentioned in the complaint. 

Thus, it is clear that at least a total of US$731 million was received by Najib in his Ambank account.

Paragraph 238 is critical. 

It explains why creditors were prepared to purchase bonds issued by 1MDB, which is a company with a paid-up capital of just RM1 million, but able to issue US$3 billion worth of bonds in March 2013 (to give just one example of such a bond issue). 

That is because Najib, as finance minister, signed a letter of support on behalf of the government of Malaysia.

Regardless of the title of that document, effectively the government was guaranteeing repayment if 1MDB defaults. 

Najib was not only prepared to risk injury to Malaysia’s sovereign immunity by being sued in the Courts of England, but more importantly was also undertaking to pay tax-payers monies from the Consolidated Fund, if 1MDB defaults.

In so signing the letter of support, Najib was placed in a terrible conflict of interest position: his interest as a beneficiary of corrupt monies overriding his duty as a public servant elected to protect taxpayers’ money.

The complaint also focuses on the offering circular, leading to the issue of 1MDB Bonds. 

Paragraph 242 states that the offering circular was misleading because it failed to disclose that Najib “would receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the proceeds of the bond sale within days of its closing”.

Paragraphs 259 to 264 deal with a subject familiar to Malaysia: the title to this part of the complaint reads: 

“US$681 million was transferred from the Tanore Account to an Account Belonging to Malaysian Official 1”. Paragraph 259 simply states:

“Shortly after proceeds of the 2013 bond sale were diverted to the Tanore Account, US$681,000,000.00 was sent from the Tanore Account to a bank account belonging to Malaysian Official 1.”

No guesses needed that this official was Najib, (and no other person). 

According to Paragraphs 248 and 249, Eric Tan Kim Loong, a close associate of Jho Low, was the sole authorised signatory to the Tanore Account, but in March 2013 1MDB Officer 3 was given signing authority on the Tanore Account through a Power of Attorney.

Thus, although Paragraph 262 pleads that RM620 million was returned by Najib to the Tanore Account, it does not mean that Najib could not have had access to it, thereafter, since the Tanore Account was controlled by Jho Low. 

What is clear is that the monies were not a gift from the Saudi royalty, but proceeds from bonds issued by 1MDB, which means 1MDB must repay them. 

And if 1MDB cannot, Malaysian taxpayers will.

The allegations levelled against Malaysian Official 1 in these paragraphs of the complaint are most grave, and indicate a pattern of systematic corruption, while holding the most important office in the state. 

Again, there is absolutely no doubt that although these paragraphs do not expressly name Najib, it is impossible to think of any other individual fitting the role.

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More than US$3.5 billion in funds belonging to 1MDB were stolen, and the US complaint seeks the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets purchased from that stolen money. 

It represents the largest single action ever brought by the Kleptocracy Initiative.

The serious allegations against Najib, his stepson, Riza Aziz and Jho Low for their corrupt dealings have shamed our nation.

Through their action, Malaysia has joined the ranks of the most corrupt nations in the globe.

One could not have a more succinct description of the corrupt practices engaged by these persons than what the Complaint states in Paragraph 6:-

“1MDB was ostensibly created to pursue investment and development projects for the economic benefit of Malaysia and its people, primarily relying on the issuance of various debt securities to fund these projects. 

However, over the course of an approximately four-year period, between approximately 2009 and at least 2013, multiple individuals, including public officials and their associates, conspired to fraudulently divert billions of dollars from 1MDB though various means, including by defrauding foreign banks and by sending foreign wire communications in furtherance of the scheme, and thereafter, to launder the proceeds of that criminal conduct, including in and through U.S. financial institutions. 

The funds diverted from 1MDB were used for the personal benefit of the co-conspirators and their relatives and associated, including to purchase luxury real estate in the United States, pay gambling expenses at Las Vegas casinos, acquire more than US$200 million in artwork, invest in a major New York real estate development project, and fund the production of major Hollywood films. 

1MDB maintained no interest in these assets and saw no returns on these investments.”

A close reading of the comprehensive document will indicate that the draftsmen had access to thousands of incriminating materials, hardly surprising considering the reach of the FBI and IRS when the US dollar and their banking system are used for nefarious purposes. 

Further, the paper trail would have been immensely damning.

From their advanced state of knowledge, as demonstrated by the exhaustive nature of the civil complaint, it is only a small step for the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) to next take, that is, to institute criminal proceedings against the persons referred to in the complaint. Such criminal proceedings cannot come soon enough for all right thinking persons.

The US government complaint completely vindicates the brave reporting of Clare Rewcastle-Brown and the Sarawak Report, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Edge led by its intrepid editor Ho Kay Tat and P Gunasegaram in KiniBiz. 

So too the public statements of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tony Pua, Lim Kit Siang and Ambiga Sreenevasan.

They have been unfairly demonised by the Malaysian Establishment, for speaking the truth and an apology is due to them. 

And Malaysia owes a great debt to Clare Rewcastle-Brown for her single-minded investigative journalism of the very highest standard.

Because the complaint is in effect a history of the fraudulent dealings undertaken by 1MDB, under the control of Najib and Jho Low from the time of its birth, it should be read carefully. 

No summary can do justice to its detailed narration: the primary document must be reviewed.

I propose to focus on the role played by Najib and the corrupt practice of his step-son, Riza. 

But before I do so, mention must be made of the Verification by Robert B Heuchling, Special Agent, FBI which appears at the last page of the complaint. 

He has signed the complaint, thereby confirming the veracity of its contents under the penalty of perjury, and goes on to state that he has had access to files, records and information supplied to him by law enforcement officers.

This signifies personal responsibility on the part of Heuchling, establishing that he is satisfied with the truth of the matters complained of. 

Thus, it would be foolhardy for anyone to simply dismiss the complaint as a political document by a foreign agency wishing to undermine the Najib administration.


Riza Aziz involvement

What has so far received far less publicity is the corrupt monies received by Najib’s stepson, Riza Aizi. 

It is a classic case of a kleptocrat in charge of the nation’s treasures plundering them for the benefit of a close relative. 

Again, Najib placed himself in a conflict of interest position.

Paragraph 120 of the complaint begins the case against Riza. 

It states there that shortly after receiving proceeds of the two 2012 bond sales from 1MDB, US$238 million was transferred to a Singapore bank account belonging to Red Granite Capital, a BVI entity owned by Riza.

About US$100 million of this money was used to purchase luxury real estate in the US and UK for Riza’s personal benefit, and about US$64 million to fund his movie production company, Red Granite Pictures. 

The scheme to defraud 1MDB of US$238 million is explained in detail from Paragraphs 202 to 219.

Riza Aziz also transferred some US$41 million from the sum of US$238 million to be applied to defray gambling expenses incurred in the Venetian Casino, Las Vegas by Jho Low, Eric Tan and himself (Riza): see Paragraph 220 and 226. 

The final corrupt dealing by Riza was his purchase of the Qentas Townhouse in posh Belgravia, London for £23 million: see Paragraph 492.

Unprecedented, shocking, massive, brazen, blatant: one soon runs out of words to describe the scale and magnitude of the corrupt actions of the wrong-doers. 

How those who designed, devised and implemented these dastardly deeds thought they could escape in the modern, borderless world is itself mind-boggling.

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