KUALA LUMPUR • US prosecutors and representatives of fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho want to sell a US$39 million mansion in Los Angeles that he bought in 2012 with money allegedly stolen from the state-owned 1MDB investment fund.
Low looks forward to an amicable resolution of the sale, said an e-mailed statement made through his lawyers. Better known as Jho Low, he is the alleged mastermind behind a multi-billion dollar theft from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state investment fund. Prosecutors say the money was used to buy real estate in California and New York, a US$250 million yacht, works of art, a jet and millions of dollars worth of jewellery for his one-time girlfriend, actress Miranda Kerr.
That is the plan for the mansion too; the proceeds will replace the property as the defendant in the government's forfeiture case. The US authorities are preparing to return about US$200 million of recovered funds to Malaysia, said people familiar with the matter. Low, who has denied wrongdoing, is sought by the Malaysian and US authorities.