KUALA LUMPUR: The movie company that made “The Wolf of Wall Street”, and was co-founded by the Malaysian prime minister’s step son, has settled a civil lawsuit brought by the US government to seize assets allegedly bought with money stolen from a Malaysian state fund.
Red Granite Pictures announced the settlement in a filing at the federal Los Angeles court on Friday, without revealing any sum.
US prosecutors, pursuing a kleptocracy asset recovery initiative, had claimed the 2013 film, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was financed by Red Granite using funds stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“The parties are pleased to inform the court that Red Granite and the government have reached a settlement in principle,” the filing stated.
Red Granite has said previously that neither it, or its co-founder Riza Aziz, had done anything wrong.
“We are glad to finally put this matter behind us and look forward to refocusing all of our attention back on our film business,” Red Granite said in a statement.
The US Justice Department has lodged dozens of lawsuits in the past two years related to the alleged misappropriation of $4.5 billion from the investment fund, 1MDB.
The United States is seeking to seize some $1.7 billion in assets, making it the largest action brought by the department under its kleptocracy asset recovery initiative.
The scandal has dogged Prime Minister Najib Razak, who had chaired 1MDB’s advisory board until it was dismantled last year, but he has consistently denied any wrong doing related to the fund. — Reuters
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