UK home of Low’s lingerie firm allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB funds to be sold.
Office
The London office used by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho for his luxury lingerie company will be sold while he continues to fight US claims that the property is one of many acquired with money stolen from 1MDB.
Apartment and office
The office, bought for £42 million (RM226 million) in 2014, as well as a nearby penthouse and apartment Low acquired in 2010 on Stratton Street in the upscale Mayfair neighbourhood, are to be sold as part of forfeiture lawsuits federal prosecutors in Los Angeles brought against the properties in 2017.
Penthouse
Apartment
According to court filings on Wednesday, the proceeds of the sale are to replace the real estate assets as the litigation continues.
Low, commonly known as Jho Low, is the alleged ringleader of a multibillion-dollar theft from 1MDB.
The US has brought 30 forfeiture lawsuits seeking real estate, investments, art and jewelry valued at US$1.7 billion that Low and his accomplices bought.
The Stratton office was used by Myla, a lingerie company that Low allegedly also acquired with diverted 1MDB funds.
Office
In a 2014 email Low sent from his Myla account, he introduced a Red Granite Pictures representative to Myla executives to follow up on “any opportunities for Myla in the movie space”.
Red Granite is the movie production company co-founded by Riza Aziz, a stepson of former prime minister Najib Razak. The company last year agreed to pay US$60 million to settle claims that it financed Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and other pictures with stolen 1MDB money.
Low and the Department of Justice earlier this year agreed to sell some of his properties in New York and Los Angeles in so-called interlocutory sales whereby the money replaces the property as a target of the forfeiture lawsuit.