U.S. goes after more than $1 billion taken from Malaysian fund

WASHINGTON — The United States moved Wednesday to recover more than $1 billion that federal officials say was stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund and used for high-end real estate, fancy artwork and movie productions.

A Justice Department civil forfeiture complaint seeks the forfeiture of property including a Manhattan penthouse, a Beverly Hills mansion, a luxury jet and paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.

The complaint, filed in Los Angeles, alleges a complex money laundering scheme that the Justice Department says was intended to enrich top-level officials of a Malaysian wealth fund.

The fund, known informally as 1MDB, was created in 2009 by the Malaysian government with the goal of promoting economic development projects in the Asian nation. Instead, officials at the fund diverted more than $3.5 billion over the next four years through a web of shell companies and bank accounts in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the U.S., according to the complaint.

Federal officials say more than $1 billion was laundered into the U.S. for the personal benefit of 1MDB officials and their associates. The funds were used to pay for luxury real estate in the U.S. and Europe, gambling expenses in Las Vegas casinos, a London interior designer, more than $200 million artwork by artists including Van Gogh and Monet and for the production of films, including the 2013 Oscar-nominated movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other officials were expected to discuss the allegations at a news conference Wednesday.

The Justice Department said it was the largest forfeiture demand under an initiative that seeks to recover foreign bribery proceeds and embezzled funds.

The complaint identifies by name multiple Malaysian nationals that the government alleges profited from the scheme. Among them is Riza Shahriz Bin Abdul Aziz, who co-founded Red Granite Pictures, a movie production studio whose films include “The Wolf of Wall Street.” According to the complaint, eleven wire transfers totaling $64 million were used to fund the studio’s operations, including the production of the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

A phone message at the movie studio on Wednesday morning was not immediately returned.

Malaysian government officials had no comment Wednesday in response to queries about reports of the Justice Department action.