Recently, we told you about Miranda Kerr's ex-boyfriend, Jho Low, a controversial (some might say shady) billionaire who is accused of masterminding the theft of $4.5 billion from a Malaysian government fund that was designated for economic development. Low is sort of the opposite of Robin Hood. Now, the U.S. Justice Department is hot on his heels and wants to seize many of the assets Low and his co-conspirators bought with the purloined funds.
The Justice Department wants, among other things, a 22-carat diamond, a yacht, a hotel in Beverly Hills, shares in a well-known tech startup, a swanky Manhattan condo, and art by Monet and Van Gogh. All of these items and more are listed in several lawsuits. The full list reads like Mr. Burns' shopping list. The feds allege that all of these items were bought with money that was available because of "an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund."
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
To sum up the global brouhaha over the alleged theft—money went missing from a Malaysian government fund. Then much of it was spent in an enormous global shopping spree. Some of the money was even used to finance the Leonardo DiCaprio film The Wolf of Wall Street, which as based on the life and crimes of Jordan Belfort. All in all, authorities believe that $1.7 billion worth of art, property, jewelry, investments—just all of the things that money can buy basically—were purchased using the stolen funds. Officially no person has been charged with a crime yet, but the assets are considered proceeds of a crime and therefore subject to being seized.
Here is a list of some of the things that the Justice Department would like to seize:
-A $30 million penthouse in Manhattan's Time Warner Center
-2.5 million shares in the third most valuable tech startup in the U.S., Palantir
-A stake in upscale fitness center Flywheel
-A private jet that was bought for $35 million
-The 300-foot yacht known as Equanimity, last seen on June 13th off the coast of Cambodia
There's also a lot of art that the Justice Department is looking for, including:
–Pablo Picasso's "Nature Morte au Crane de Taureau"
-One of Monet's water-lily paintings, which was bought for more than $57 million
-Monet's "Saint-Georges Majeur," purchased for $35 million
-A Jean-Michel Basquiat collage
-A Van Gogh drawing named "La maison de Vincent a Arles"
The stolen funds were also used to buy influence in Hollywood and the feds are looking to take back the rights to Dumb and Dumber To and Daddy's Home as well as a 1927 lithograph by Heinz Shulz-Neudamm for the 1927 silent film Metropolis.
The Justice Department is also looking to seize jewelry bought with the stolen money, much of which was gifted to model Miranda Kerr. Among the gems the feds are looking for are: a 22-carat pink diamond set in a diamond necklace bought for $27.3 million, an 11.72-carat heart-shaped diamond inscribed with Miranda Kerr's initials bought for $1.29 million, and an 8.88-carat pink diamond pendant bought for $4.6 million.
