1MDB Drops $248 Million Against ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Producer
Malaysia’s 1MDB has dropped a years-long lawsuit against Riza Aziz, one of the producers of hit movie The Wolf of Wall Street, and a stepson to jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The state investment fund, known formally as 1Malaysia Development Bhd., had alleged misappropriation of $248 million when it filed the suit against Riza and his companies Red Granite Pictures Inc. and Red Granite Capital Ltd. in 2021, state-run Bernama news agency reported Monday. Riza’s lawyer confirmed to Bloomberg News that the suit has been dropped.
The lawsuit was just a small piece of the global legal action that followed the unraveling of 1MDB in a multibillion-dollar morass of fraud. There were probes by authorities from Singapore to Switzerland, while the scandal led to the jailing of ex-Premier Najib and tarnished key banker Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
One of the main targets of Malaysia’s investigations has been Jho Low, who underwrote the smash 2013 hit The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The actor has testified about his party-fueled relationship with the fugitive financier.
1MDB lawyers in Malaysia’s High Court on Monday did not explain why the state investment fund chose to withdraw the suit. A lawyer for 1MDB declined to comment on the reason when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Riza’s lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee said they fought against the civil suit on the basis of a settlement between Riza and the Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia in 2020. Riza had essentially relinquished the assets sought in the case by not challenging the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture against him, Farhan said on Tuesday.
In exchange, charges against Riza were dropped and he was not to face any further civil action, he added.
The defense had already called on a witness from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission who confirmed the settlement, and were prepared to call more witnesses before 1MDB withdrew the case, Farhan said.
But the 1MDB scandal continues to percolate in Malaysia, and Amir Fareed Rahim, an analyst at public affairs consultancy KRA Group, said more transparency is needed in the asset-recovery process.
“Interest in all cases linked to 1MDB remains intense and public sentiment is usually unfavorable when cases like this are dropped,” Amir said.
In early January, a separate Malaysian court allowed Najib to pursue a legal petition to serve the remainder of his 1MDB-linked prison sentence at home.
Such “legal controversies” may erode confidence among core supporters of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition in the long run, Amir warned.
Anwar, who has denied interfering in court cases and investigations, campaigned for power promising to fight graft and uphold the rule of law. But his image took a beating when he aligned himself with the United Malays National Organisation, the scandal-laden party Najib once led, in order to form the government in late 2022. He now controls a supermajority in parliament.
Riza and his companies, which also produced comedy Dumb and Dumber To, allegedly used the money “for the purposes of financing movie productions and purchasing various real estates” between 2011 and 2012, according to court documents.
Top photo: Riza Aziz in 2019. Photographer: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images.