U.S. seeks to recover 1 bln USD assets purchased with money stolen from Malaysian sovereign fund

The United States announced Wednesday it has filed a civil lawsuit to forfeit and recover more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in assets purchased with money stolen from Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that these assets are associated with "international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from the Malaysian fund," namely 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The filing of civil forfeiture complaints, which were filed in Los Angeles, "represent the largest single action ever brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative," Lynch said.

According to the complaints, from 2009 through 2015, more than 3.5 billion dollars in funds belonging to 1MDB was allegedly misappropriated by corrupt high-level Malaysian officials of 1MDB and their associates.

Those officials used fraudulent documents and representations to launder 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, the Justice Department said.

These assets that the U.S. seeks to forfeit and recover include high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York and Los Angeles, a 35-million-dollar jet aircraft, works of art by world famous painters 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.

1MDB was created by the government of Malaysia to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment.

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

"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," she added. Enditem