All language subtitles for American Greed s15e05 The Biggest Theft of All Time

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In this episode of American Greed.

No one knows how to party like Jolo.

So he was known as a whale of the
nightclub scene.

The mysterious businessman drops as much
as $500 ,000 a night.

Even for bankers that he was going out
with, they weren't used to this kind of

spending. He buys a quarter -billion
-dollar super yacht and dates

He would buy Bergen bags as gifts for
the different models.

He was spending $10 million or $20
million at Las Vegas casinos.

He pals around with celebrities like Leo
DiCaprio and even finances their

movies. Joe Bell gave Leonardo DiCaprio
an Oscar that Marlon Brando originally

won. for on the waterfront. But the feds
say no one knows how to steal like Jolo

either and steal on a scale the world
has never seen.

This is one of the largest economic
crimes in the history of the world.

the man behind what may be the biggest
theft of all time.

Then when I find out it was $4 .5
billion.

I was shocked. And the New York bankers
and other VIPs who benefited from his

big bucks.

It's so interesting, the friendships
that money can bring, right? Too many

people are happy to take money without
asking any questions.

You don't question when somebody's a
billionaire where the money's coming

It's awards season in Hollywood.

In January 2014,

the Hollywood Foreign Press honors the
best film and television productions at

the 71st Golden Globe Ceremony.

Familiar faces grace the red carpet.

Martin Scorsese, Tom Hanks, Idris Elba.

One of the films nominated this year is
Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall

Street.

Based on the memoirs of disgraced
stockbroker and former American greed

Jordan Belfort, a .k .a. the Wolf of
Wall Street.

Belfort pleaded guilty to stealing more
than $100 million from investors.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Belfort in a
remarkable performance.

I'm talking about this.

The film is a box office smash, making
nearly $400 million internationally.

Scorsese's highest -grossing film of his
career. I know you're not following

what I'm saying anyway, right? That's
okay. For his efforts, DiCaprio is

the Golden Globe for Best Actor, Musical
or Comedy.

Goes to Leonardo DiCaprio.

When he accepts the award, DiCaprio is
specific in his thanks.

Joey, Riz, Joe, thank you. Joey, Riz,
and Joe, thank you for being not only

collaborators but taking a risk on this
movie, truly.

Joey and Riz are Joey McFarland and Riza
Aziz, the producers and founders of the

production company Red Granite Pictures.

Joe is 33 -year -old Joe Lowe, the
principal funder of the movie.

The story goes that Martin Scorsese and
Leonardo DiCaprio wanted to make The

Wolf of Wall Street and had purchased
the rights to the Jordan Belfort story.

It was too expensive to make, the studio
said.

And so Leonardo DiCaprio and Jolo
decided together that Jolo would

finance The Wolf of Wall Street.

Leonardo DiCaprio became very close to
Jolo.

You know, in the credits of The Wolf of
Wall Street, at the very end, there's a

note. Special thanks, Joe Lowe. But Joe
Lowe is no ordinary financier.

Authorities say he's the architect
behind a massive world -class theft,

$4 .5 billion from the country of
Malaysia.

I think it's safe to say this is one of
the greatest frauds of all time,

certainly in our time. And it's also,
it's bigger than things like even the

Bernie Madoff scandal.

Leonardo DiCaprio's award -winning film
is financed with dirty money.

They made The Wolf of Wall Street a
movie about criminals spending money in

ridiculously lavish ways. Perfectly
fitting that that movie was financed by

fraudsters about fraudsters.

The story of Jolo begins in the tiny
Malaysian island of Penang, a former

British colony.

His family background is steeped in
mystery.

What is known is that Jolo's family is
part of the ethnic Chinese minority.

And his father owned a garment factory
that provides cheap clothes to the

States. Jolo will later tell people he's
the scion of a very rich family.

Whether that's true or whether they are
merely well -off, it's clear there's

enough money to get Jolo out of Penang.

That was successful enough to send Jolo
away to a fancy British boarding school,

Harrow, outside London.

Fancy is an understatement.

Harrow is ancient.

Shakespeare was a young lad when it was
founded.

Harrow alumni include legendary world
leaders, the first prime minister of

India, Jawaharlal Nehru, King Hussein of
Jordan, and Sir Winston

Churchill.

Jolo doesn't squander the opportunity to
connect with the crazy, rich, and

fabulously well -connected. In fact, one
of the friendships he forges at Harrow

is with Riza Aziz, a fellow Malaysian
who eventually gets a shout -out from

at the Golden Globes.

He's the stepson of Najib Razak, who at
the time, I believe, was the Minister of

Defense.

After graduating from Harrow, Jolo moved
to the United States and the University

of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of
Business.

Once again, he makes connections to
wealthy and even royal families from

Arabia, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi.

He was surrounded by people who were
much, much richer than him. He even told

some people that he was a prince in
Malaysia.

While still enrolled in college, Lowe
makes a name for himself as an alleged

financial wizard.

He started an investment fund while he
was at Wharton.

And that was making investments on
behalf of some wealthy families he knew

the Middle East and around the world at
that time. The company's name is the

Winton Group, where investors, and more
importantly, Joe Lowe, can win tons of

money. He's very interested in using his
social cachet and his social

connections to get access to a lot of
money to make investments.

And in a sign of things to come, Lowe is
known for throwing ridiculous parties.

For his 20th birthday, he rents out a
club in Philadelphia, running up a $40

,000 tab and becoming known as the Asian
Great Gatsby.

The famous party he threw at.

The University of Pennsylvania, he
actually dissed the club owners. He

them that he had the money, and then
when it came to pay the bill, he said he

didn't have it, and he ended up paying a
lot less.

The youthful transgressions are written
off, but the connections abide.

After graduating from Wharton, he helped
the Kuwait Finance House...

The world's first Sharia -compliant bank
purchased an $87 million luxury high

-rise unit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in
2006.

He was coming across to them as this
sort of investing prodigy just because

the way he was able to talk and sell
himself.

While Jho Low knows how to talk, money
speaks even louder.

Next on American Greed.

See how the mild -mannered Malaysian
uses stolen money to realize his

and burnish his gold -plated reputation.

In New York, a mystery man has arrived
on the club scene, and the paparazzi

taken note.

The New York Post, running a picture of
Jolo with Usher, lays on the snark.

His chubby, bespectacled appearance
hardly meets the image of a wealthy

gadabout. Jolo appeared from nowhere.

Like, literally, everybody was talking
about this guy because...

He was spending between $300 ,000 and
$500 ,000 a night in New York.

Selma Fonseca is a photojournalist who
covers New York City nightlife.

So, obviously, all the promoters and the
nightclub owners wanted him to come to

their places because, I mean, he was
spending a lot of money.

So the clubs he liked were Avenue, the
Pink Elephant.

He would go to Tao.

And when he came in, he would take over
the whole club.

He always had a table right in the
middle of everything.

He was kind of a shy guy.

His thing was to buy Cristal champagne.

He always had tons of bottles.

It would start off with like, you know,
10 bottles of Cristal. By the end of the

night, everybody in the entire club.

was drinking their own bottle of
champagne or something or another bought

Jolo. A magnum of Louis Rotor of Cristal
retails for $700 per bottle, but at

clubs it can cost $4 ,000.

One night, Jolo runs into Lindsay Lohan
and surprises her with a gift.

Somebody told him that it was Lindsay
Lohan's 23rd birthday, and so he bought

bottles of Cristal.

But one of Jolo's favorite celebrities
to party with is Paris Hilton.

Reporter Bradley Hope learns that Jolo
is infatuated with the heiress and

watches her movie House of Wax
obsessively.

I think he had a sort of fixation with
Paris Hilton.

My understanding is that he became very
interested in Paris Hilton in college

and had a crush on her.

So when he had the means, he then
basically bought access to her.

He and Paris frolic on his yacht, gamble
in Las Vegas, and go clubbing in the

world's most exclusive spots.

Bradley Hope says it's not uncommon for
Hilton to be paid in the six figures for

each appearance with Lowe.

She would either be getting paid
directly in cash or, you know, getting

spend in whatever she wants at the club
or, you know, when he would go gambling

with people like Paris Hilton, he would
actually give them chips, like $100 ,000

of chips, and they could go play and
keep the profit.

Selma Fonseca shot this film.

Never before seen on American TV, a
Paris Angolo in action in Saint -Tropez.

Paris loves to have fun, so she was
dancing and, you know, getting the

bringing champagne.

He's in the south of France, surrounded
by all of, you know, to be honest, the

world's richest people, and he's just
showing off.

He would go on the microphone. He would
say something like, for the waiters to

bring a bottle for every person that was
inside of the club.

So they would bring 100 bottles, you
know, and then give it to everybody.

What's interesting about Jolo is that he
was an awkward person.

And I think this was his way to buy in.

Using his wealth and status, Joe Lowe is
able to buy many things.

Over a span of two years, the feds say
Lowe spent $200 million on gifts and

jewelry for his friends and fellow
partiers.

Joe Lowe loved to purchase gifts for
women. He would purchase Bergen bags or

Cartier or Rolex watches, and he would
just give them away to models and other

women he was hanging around with. Joe
sometimes.

Just had a box full of Rolex that he
would gift people.

So he'd have things, you know, thanks
for coming, you know, here's your Rolex.

He even dates Victoria's Secret model
Miranda Kerr and lavishes her with $8

million in diamonds.

They started this kind of slightly odd
romance, but it mostly involved

lavish gifts.

He bought her diamonds, heart -shaped
diamonds.

They also traveled around the world
together on his private jet, and

gave her a translucent piano in her
house in California.

But the relationship doesn't even last a
year.

C 'est la vie.

While at Wharton, Jolo was called the
Asian Great Gatsby.

And just like in the novel, most of the
revelers at his bashes have no idea

about the source of their host's wealth.

He would always purposefully kind of
feed misinformation that made him sound

more attractive.

He had told my friend...

that his parents owned the Petronas
building, which at the time was the

building in the world. He had told
people he was with royalty. There were

rumors that he was an arms dealer.

The New York Post notes, speculation is
brewing over where Lowe is getting his

money from.

One inside observer said, nobody spends
their own money like that. It's just

weird. It gets even weirder.

For most people, a 31st birthday isn't
anything special.

But most people aren't Joe Lowe.

For me, this party is really the
biggest, most grandest party of all.

Essentially, they took over this piece
of land on the Las Vegas Strip, and in

the center of it was the party that had
the biggest concentration of celebrities

and music performers, aside from the
office.

They created a kind of...

and they filled it with circus acts
with, I heard there were caged tigers.

There was people on stilts going around.
There was, you know, an ice bar.

There was performances on stage,
fireworks.

There was Psy with the rendition of
Gangnam Style.

There was people like Kanye West. At one
point, the rapper Q -Tip was on stage,

and Leonardo DiCaprio, who was a bit
inebriated, jumped on stage and joined

in the rap.

From brilliant actors to Kim Kardashian,
Jolo's 31st is packed

with A -listers.

But the real highlight of the night is
when it's time to sing to the birthday

boy. It's another adolescent fantasy
come true.

A giant birthday cake was wheeled out to
the middle of the stage, and out popped

Britney Spears, who did a rendition of
Happy Birthday to Jolo.

But one man at the party is nearly
invisible amid all the glitter and glam.

He's a relative unknown Goldman Sachs
executive named Tim Leisner, who runs

Asia Desk. Could this Goldman connection
be a clue about the source of Jolo's

outrageous fortune?

Next on American Greed, how authorities
say Jolo pulled off one of the biggest

thefts of all time.

Most people don't think they're ever
going to get caught, right? And if you

at Jolo, who's on his side? It's the
prime minister of Malaysia.

So who's going to call him out?

Seemingly overnight.

Jolo graduates from Wharton to being a
financial power player and international

man of mystery.

Does he owe it all to business acumen
and hard work?

Not quite.

In fact, it's possible to pinpoint the
exact moment his lucky number comes up.

In April 2009, Najib Razak wins a
national election and becomes Malaysia's

prime minister.

Razak is the stepfather of Jho Low's old
London school pal, Reza Aziz.

Jho Low immediately makes his move.

He was sort of entranced by people who
had things he didn't have. So in this

case, it was political power.

Jolo understood the extreme importance
of maintaining a strong relationship

Prime Minister Najib and his family.

During his time studying international
finance, federal authorities say Jolo

becomes fascinated with sovereign wealth
funds.

One of the best known is Saudi Arabia's,
which controls a mind -bending $500

billion worth of assets with the goal of
investing for the good of the country.

Jho Low now has an audience with
Malaysia's prime minister, and he

on the idea that Malaysia should jump in
the sovereign wealth pool.

Jho Low came up with this idea at some
point that

developing a sovereign wealth fund is
the way to tap into extreme

amounts of money and power.

But he learned that through...

people that he was introduced to in
places like the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

It was supposed to be like the
benevolent fund for the country of

where money would get pulled in and
generate funds that would help the

Malaysia. The new sovereign wealth fund
is named One Malaysia Development

Berhad, or 1MDB.

But unlike Jho Low's Middle Eastern
model, Malaysia is at a disadvantage in

starting its new fund.

In places like Saudi Arabia...

Those sovereign wealth funds are funded
mostly through profits from the oil

industry. But in Malaysia, they didn't
have the billions of dollars needed for

sovereign wealth fund. They were going
to go borrow it. They were going to

acquire debt, essentially, to try to
then make those investments.

Borrowing money means Malaysia's
taxpayers are on the hook for the fund.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is the fund
chairman.

Jolo never holds an official title, but
is instead considered a consultant.

Jolo purposely did not have an official
role in 1MDB. He stayed behind the

scenes as sort of an advisor.

In reality, he was running the entire
fund in every which way. It was all his

people he put into every position, but
they treated him as if he was the

absolute CEO of the fund.

One of the first projects they invest in
is a joint venture with the Saudi oil

extraction company.

One MDB chips in $1 billion in Malaysian
state funds for the project.

But according to bank records, much of
the cash is rerouted to a shell company

secretly held by Jho Low.

Authorities say insiders are paid off to
help Low pull off the transaction.

The first major theft from 1MDB is
really just the kind of crazy brazen

When it came to 1MDB was about to send
the money, there were some changes done

on the paperwork because obviously Jolo
was controlling 1MDB. He could make

these changes.

And so with a simple signature from
1MDB, he suddenly had $700 million in

own account.

In the following years, Jolo and 1MDB
hook up with the American financial

Goldman Sachs. whose market
capitalization is $134 billion.

Remember, the context is these sovereign
wealth deals were happening not that

long after the financial crisis in the U
.S., and a lot of banks, including

Goldman, were really looking
internationally as a new source of big

Tim Leisner is Goldman's point man with
1MDB.

Remember, he's a guest at Jolo's 31st
birthday bash in Las Vegas.

Leissner is a rising star at the firm,
known for working hard and partying even

harder. He dates an eventually married
reality TV star and former model Kimora

Lee Simmons.

Access to the power structure of a place
like Malaysia, knowing that they're in

the process of building a sovereign
wealth fund out, became an extremely

enticing business opportunity for...

Tim Leisner and the Asia desk of Goldman
Sachs.

But according to investigators, Leisner
has been warned about not doing business

with Jolo.

Anti -money laundering officers at
Goldman Sachs have questions about how

makes his money.

Timothy Leisner tried on multiple
occasions.

to help Jolo get a private banking
account in Goldman Sachs. And the bank's

compliance department in private banking
said, we don't feel comfortable with

his source of funds.

Within Goldman Sachs, the word, the name
Jolo was considered a problem.

But the feds say Leissner wants to do a
deal with his friend. So he simply lies

to his bosses at Goldman Sachs and the
internal investigation is dropped.

You know, they were given assurances
that Jolo wasn't.

involved in the 1MDB deal.

Beginning in 2012, Goldman Sachs helps
the fund organize three separate bond

offerings. They ultimately raise $6 .5
billion for 1MDB.

For their efforts, Goldman Sachs
collects $600 million in fees.

And Tim Leisner is put on a pedestal.

Timothy Leissner, his career really took
off because of this work that he did in

Malaysia. One senior official said, you
know, everyone should do more like Tim

Leissner's doing. You know, this is the
kind of work we want to be pursuing

around the world.

$6 .5 billion would go a long way in
Malaysia.

The country is newly industrialized but
still developing.

The per capita income in Malaysia is $10
,000 a year. When you go to Malaysia,

you clearly see signs of poverty, but
you also see signs of real economic

development. But once again, the bulk of
the money never makes it to Malaysia's

coffers. Within days of getting the
proceeds of these bond offerings, the

accounts showed that hundreds of
millions of dollars were being sent.

to a shell company account held in Swiss
Bank.

And then from there, if you follow the
financial tracing further, the funds

would then flow to other shell companies
controlled by Jolo.

Next on American Greed, Jolo uses his
abundant cash to invest in the United

States. He bought lavish.

pieces of property in places like New
York City and Beverly Hills. He

extremely expensive, rare pieces of art.

Despite his world -class skills at
partying, Joe Lowe has more important

endeavors when he arrives in the United
States.

In 2010, he hangs out a shingle called
Genwell Capital.

According to its website, the firm
cultivates lifelong partnerships with

significant investors such as leading
sovereign wealth funds.

So in places like New York, there's an
entire industry devoted to...

catering to high net worth people, and
Jho Low plugged himself into that

industry. But the feds say Jho Low's
real business is laundering all the

he looted from Malaysia.

Low uses shell companies to purchase a
$24 million unit in Manhattan's Park

Laurel building, a loft in Soho for
nearly $14 million, a

$140 million stake in the Park Lane
Hotel.

and a $30 million penthouse in the
exclusive Time Warner Center.

Before Joe Lowe, Jay -Z, and Beyonce
lived there.

So, you know, this place had a lot of
cachet. It was flashy, it was luxurious.

In 2012, he partners with Sony Music and
others to purchase EMI Music Publishing

for $2 .2 billion.

The business contains the song catalog
of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Bob

and countless others.

Genwell Capital and Jolo's contribution
is $106 million.

These are major financial transactions.

As Jolo's reputation grows, so does his
celebrity circle.

He gets friendly with musical artists
like Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, Swiss

and Alicia Keys.

Tease even features in a promotional
video for Genwell Capital.

If we're not supporting the artistic
community, you know, I don't think we'll

able to encourage that bravery and
boldness that really creates the

classic.

Jolo becomes a major player in the New
York art world.

He buys works by Warhol, Basquiat, Van
Gogh.

And Picasso.

So he's not the most sophisticated art
buyer. He was in a gallery and they

this is a Monet. And he said, oh, is
that guy still alive?

But Jolo isn't just in an empire state
of mind.

In Beverly Hills, he buys the Viceroy
Hotel for $40 million.

And a $39 million house in the hills
that doubles as his own personal fantasy

island.

But he also bought a home that was
originally belonged to Ricardo Montalban

Hollywood.

But to really make it in L .A., you
ought to be in pictures.

In 2011, Joe Lowe invests in the upstart
film studio Red Granite.

The production company is co -founded by
his old school buddy, Riza Aziz. It

kind of ticked multiple boxes for Jolo
to invest in Red Granite.

It curried favor with Prime Minister
Najib and the family by providing

an opportunity for Riza Aziz to entrench
himself into the Hollywood

scene. Red Granite produces a handful of
films.

including the sequel to the Jim Carrey
smash, Dumb and Dumber. But their

crowning achievement is the adaptation
of the raunchy memoir of Jordan Belfort.

Leonardo DiCaprio has been trying to
make the film for years.

The studios were passing on The Wolf of
Wall Street because they thought it was

just too excessive. The project wasn't
moving forward. They couldn't find the

money to make it.

DiCaprio finally sees his dreams
realized when he meets the Red Granite

their mysterious benefactor.

When Jolo heard the pitch with RZA, they
said, look, we'll finance this.

It's a story as old as Hollywood.

Filmmakers happy to partner with dumb
money.

Outsiders with deep pockets and dreams
of seeing their name in the credits.

When people show up on the scene and
start throwing tens of millions of

around, it certainly didn't take a
seasoned investigator to understand that

there was something wrong.

Next on American Greed, who says money
can't buy happiness?

Joe Lowe's abundant cash appears to buy
himself a best new bud.

One gift that stands out that he gave
Leonardo DiCaprio was an Oscar that was

given to Marlon Brando.

Want more greed?

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podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll be right back.

To celebrate the founding of Red Granite
and to announce their intention to make

The Wolf of Wall Street, Jolo and his
buddies throw a bash at the Cannes Film

Festival in 2011.

The Cannes party is when Hollywood met
Red Granite. They weren't really meeting

Joe Lowe, though. He wasn't such a big
presence at that party.

It was those celebrities.

Kanye West and Jamie Foxx perform on
stage.

Of course, the film's star, Leonardo
DiCaprio, is there.

The real -life wolf, Jordan Belfort, is
also in attendance and has an

interesting take.

Remember the anonymous club goer who
told the New York Post, nobody spends

own money like that, it's just weird.

Turns out, the convicted felon, Belfort,
has the exact same thought.

Jordan Belfort was watching this party
and thinking it was a red flag for him.

You know, nobody spends their own money
like this.

It had that feeling of stolen money.

It takes a thief.

When it comes time to make the film, Red
Granite spares no expense for Leonardo

DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese.

They put up the entirety of the film's
$100 million budget, and Jolo becomes a

hero. And that was extremely attractive,
because obviously the studio system

asks a lot of hard questions, they say
no to things, and they kind of curtail

the creativity of some of these
filmmakers.

And here was Red Granite telling them,
look, we'll just write a check. One

is that the director of Wolf of Wall
Street wanted to crash a real

as opposed to a replica.

But they were able to convince Jolo and
Riza Aziz to allow them to crash a real

vintage Lamborghini.

The film debuts in December 2013 and is
ultimately a success, making $392

million worldwide.

Scorsese has directed films considered
among the greatest of all time, such as

Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, and
Goodfellas.

But it's this over -the -top saga of
depraved greed that earns more money

any of his other films.

During production, Jolo allegedly
becomes close with DiCaprio.

both personally and professionally.

Joe Lowe was going to fund their entire
slate.

So every project they wanted to do, if
they wanted to do it their own way, he

would be the guy that would fund it.

Leonardo DiCaprio's film company, Appian
Way, is based in a building on the

Sunset Strip.

Red Granite's office is in the same
building, just one floor away.

They were working together a lot on
projects, you know, thinking about

Jolo buys a mansion in Beverly Hills
around the corner from DiCaprio's home.

He flatters his new friend by giving him
$13 million worth of art, including

works by Picasso, Basquiat and
photographer Diane Arbus.

But Jolo's biggest and best gift to Leo
is something more personal.

The story goes that when Leonardo
DiCaprio didn't win the Oscar for The

Wall Street, Reza Aziz and Jolo were
able to, or purchased an Oscar that

Marlon Brando originally won for On the
Waterfront and gave it to Leonardo

DiCaprio as a kind of consolation prize.

Next on American Greed, Jolo's reckless
spending finally catches up with him.

when he buys his most decadent item yet.

Jolo commissioned the creation of this
incredible yacht, which at the time was

the most expensive yacht to ever be
built.

In 2014, Joe Lowe attains membership in
one of the most exclusive clubs yet when

he purchases a 300 -foot -long super
yacht for the reasonable price of $250

million.

It was just about the size of a football
field.

The super yacht features a sauna, a
helicopter landing pad, and a jacuzzi

entertaining celebrity friends.

It was massive. It was decadent.

It was gaudy. It had everything. This is
why people steal money.

But while Jolo lives it up on the high
seas, a storm is brewing.

It's currently being investigated by
multiple parties.

In February 2015,

Louise Story of the New York Times has
one of the first big exposés on Jolo.

For more than a year, she's been
investigating the use of LLCs and shell

companies to launder money through
luxury condos.

In the Time Warner Center, the
mysterious Jho Low is one of the first

featured in her series.

As I talked to bankers in Malaysia, I
found out that Jho Low had been an

investor to 1MDB.

So that right there opened a big can of
worms.

Over at the Wall Street Journal, Bradley
Hope and his colleague Tom Wright have

their own series investigating Jho Low
and 1MDB.

So we wrote the first story saying the
FBI was investigating Goldman Sachs. And

then we continued to write about things
that U .S. investigators were doing. The

Fed's investigation is part of their new
initiative to crack down on

international corruption cases.

Joe Lowe's behavior made it crystal
clear that the connections to the United

States were extremely strong.

From 2009 to 2015, U .S. authorities say
$4 .5 billion of 1MDB

funds were misappropriated in a vast
international conspiracy.

In 2016, the U .S. government files a
civil forfeiture complaint seeking the

recovery of more than $1 billion in
assets bought with stolen money.

Jolo initially resists the government's
actions, but eventually gives up.

He didn't necessarily cooperate. He just
sort of gave up the fight.

Jolo never made an admission of guilt,
but he relinquished about $700 million

assets. The seizures include his real
estate holdings in New York and L .A.,

jewelry gifted to Miranda Kerr, and the
artworks and Brando Oscar given to

Leonardo DiCaprio.

I will say that the FBI did not
necessarily have to hit down any doors,

Leonardo DiCaprio only turned his assets
over to the FBI after they were named

in a complaint.

At the time, a spokesperson says
DiCaprio accepted the art with the

auctioning it off to raise money for his
charity.

And in a first, the U .S. government
seizes several films when they crack

on red granite pictures.

The United States cedes the rights to
several movies, including The Wolf of

Street, because they were made directly
with money stolen from one MDB.

Red Granite settles and pays the U .S.
government $60 million.

The company's executives never face any
criminal charges.

However, Red Granite co -founder Riza
Aziz surrenders $60 million in assets to

the U .S. government.

His partner, Joey McFarlane, surrenders
$14 million in cash and assets.

Joe Lowe's celebrity friends also are
never charged with any crimes.

American Greed reaches out to Leonardo
DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Miranda Kerr,

Paris Hilton, and others, but receives
no response.

There isn't culpability for celebrities
if they just want to hang out with bad

guys. It becomes criminal if they know
where the money is coming from.

In 2018, U .S. prosecutors filed
criminal charges against Goldman Sachs

executive Tim Leisner, alleging that he
helped launder 1MDB funds through the U

.S. financial system.

The feds say he also helped bribe
government officials with $1 .6 billion

stolen money.

If bribes were paid to government
officials in Malaysia, Goldman Sachs has

admitted that their Malaysian subsidiary
has paid those bribes in order to

ensure that Goldman Sachs received that
business.

Leisner pleads guilty to conspiracy to
launder money and violation of the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

He also agrees to forfeit $43 .7
million.

He awaits sentencing.

Goldman Sachs also agrees to pay a $2 .9
billion penalty for its role in the

scheme. And they paid the largest
criminal penalty for an international

corruption case in DOJ history.

In 2018, Jolo is also indicted for
conspiring to launder money and

violate the Foreign and Corrupt
Practices Act.

But he flees the U .S. and avoids
arrest.

However, authorities do find his
superyacht.

It's anchored off the coast of Bali.

FBI agents and Indonesian authorities
seize the vessel, but Jho Low is not on

board.

The superyacht becomes a focal point in
the upcoming elections in Malaysia,

where the 1MDB scandal rages.

It was like this ultimate example of the
level of corruption here, that this

mega yacht was purchased at a price that
could have done so much good for the

people of Malaysia.

In 2018, the scandal tanks Najib Razak's
re -election efforts as he suffers a

resounding defeat.

In 2020, the former prime minister is
tried and found guilty in Malaysia for

abuse of power, money laundering and
criminal breach of trust.

Razak is sentenced to 12 years, but has
yet to set foot behind bars.

I think one of the things sometimes we
hear is that money laundering or foreign

corruption, these are financial crimes
with no real victims. Well, there were

victims because all of this money.

That was raised and spent. Now, who's
holding the bag for it? It's the

people.

As for Jho Low, he flees Malaysia and is
reportedly living in China, living in

the home of a high -ranking member of
the Chinese Communist Party.

I think it's safe to say he's in
possession of a massive fortune.

You know, a lot of money from 1MDB was
never recovered.

Regardless... Jolo's jet -setting days
are over.

Aspiring Hollywood filmmakers and
crooked international bankers now have

a new sugar daddy.

He will never be able to travel freely
around the world. His days of partying

with Leonardo DiCaprio are over.

Essentially, he's in a kind of no -man's
land where he has a lot of money and

he's able to move around freely within
China, but that's about it. He will be a

fugitive from the United States for the
rest of his life.

The United States will never stop
looking for him.