DiCaprio handed back a number of art objects after a US Justice Department investigation linked them to corrupt financiers of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
Leonardo Dicaprio has willingly handed back items including a Picasso painting and an Oscar awarded to Marlon Brando, after the US Justice Department took action to recover millions of dollars’ worth of assets allegedly stolen by financiers associated with a sovereign wealth fund.
This week, the Justice Dept. filed complaints to recover roughly $540 million they say was stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The filings are just the latest legal motion in connection to alleged money laundering at the fund, which was set up by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak in 2009 to promote economic development.
Leonardo DiCaprio has willingly handed back the Picasso and other art objects
That $540 million is now represented in assets, which include pieces of art (including the Picasso) apparently gifted to DiCaprio by corrupt financing partners on his movie The Wolf of Wall Street. Other assets which can be traced back to the stolen money include the rights to two movies, Daddy’s Home and Dumb and Dumber To.
Kenneth Blanco, the acting assistant attorney general, said: “We simply will not allow the United States to be a place where corrupt individuals can expect to hide assets and lavishly spend money that should be used for the benefit of citizens of other nations.”
The Wolf of Wall Street and the other two movies were all funded by Red Granite, a production company founded by Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, and the Justice Department made moves to seize the rights to the film.
Najib himself denies having appropriated any funds from 1MDB, and Red Granite said in a statement it was “aimed at resolving these civil cases and is fully cooperating.”
Authorities claim that in 2014, Malaysian financier Jho Low used $3.2m diverted from a 1MDB bond sale to buy a Picasso painting for DiCaprio, having worked with him on The Wolf of Wall Street. “Dear Leonardo DiCaprio, happy belated birthday! This gift is for you,” a friend of Low’s is said have written in a note.
DiCaprio himself has not been accused of any crime, and a spokesman for the 42 year old actor Thursday (June 15th) said the actor had voluntarily and of his own accord put proceedings in motion to transfer ownership of the Picasso to the U.S. government. He accepted them as gifts to raise funds for his environmental foundation.
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