by Tom Wright
In October 2009, 1MDB invested $1 billion in a joint venture with PetroSaudi International, which was co-owned by Prince Turki Bin Abdullah Al Saud, a son of Saudi Arabia’s king. The idea was to invest in oil exploration, but hundreds of millions of 1MDB’s money instead moved to a shell company in the Seychelles controlled by Low, who made sure to pay off his co-conspirators. Getty Images
Patrick Mahony, a former Goldman banker who was PetroSaudi’s director of investment, helped Low structure the deal with 1MDB. Fluent in French and English, Mahony had attended international school in Geneva, and was considered brash by many business associates.
Xavier Justo was tasked to run PetroSaudi’s London office, but he left in April 2011 after falling out with the firm’s founders over pay. After he resigned, Justo arranged to get ahold of a copy of PetroSaudi’s email servers, 140 gigabytes of information, including emails between Low, Mahony, and others that painted a picture of what had transpired at the company. It was a fateful decision that later landed Justo in a Thai jail and had his new wife, Laura, battling for his release. Xavier Justo
Low came to rely on powerful friends such as Yousef Al Otaiba, a young adviser to the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates. Otaiba introduced Low to executives from Mubadala, a sovereign wealth fund, which invested in Malaysia and did deals with Low. In return, Low made sure that Otaiba received millions of dollars. Getty Images
Khadem Al Qubaisi, the managing director of the International Petroleum Investment Company, or IPIC, became a close ally of Low. Known for his love of luxury cars, Al Qubaisi agreed for IPIC to guarantee $3.5 billion in bonds that the 1MDB fund was issuing via Goldman Sachs to fund the purchase of power plants. But the guarantee was just a ruse for Low and Al Qubaisi to funnel billions more out of 1MDB. Getty Images
Al Qubaisi’s patron in the gulf was Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who hailed from the UAE’s ruling family and was one of the world’s richest people. Better known for his ownership of Manchester City Football Club, Sheikh Mansour gave Al Qubaisi cover to run IPIC and to feather his own nest. In return, Al Qubaisi ensured the sheikh had ample funds to pay for staff, houses, cars, and boats around the world. Getty Images
Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner got to know Jho Low in 2009. In 2012 and 2013 Goldman netted nearly $600 million by selling three bonds for the 1MDB fund, and Leissner, paid millions in bonuses, later married model Kimora Lee Simmons. Getty Images
As far back as college, Low had been a big gambler. But after his first big haul in late 2009, he became the largest “whale” any casino manager had encountered, often spending days at the tables in Las Vegas. He thought nothing of losing millions of dollars in a hand, stunning onlookers. On one occasion, he dropped $50,000 in chips on the floor, only recovering them when a friend pointed it out.
Tired of leasing planes, Low spent $35 million of the money he took from 1MDB to purchase a Bombardier Global 5000 private jet. He lived on the jet, which was outfitted with a bed and mini-office, more than the many homes he acquired. In a typical three-week period, Low would crisscross the globe, from Malaysia to Abu Dhabi, Zurich, London, New York, and Vegas, before starting over again.
Most of Low’s partying, in casinos and nightclubs, took place behind closed doors. But as he accrued wealth and status, he made an effort to ingratiate himself with New York society. In October 2014, he was honored at a charity gala on Wall Street, congratulated here by model Gigi Hadid. Getty Images
One night, after recording a track at Jungle Studios in Manhattan, Low relaxed with Swizz Beatz, a friend and hip-hop producer. Low recently had acquired his stake in the music label EMI, and when one of the label’s artists, Busta Rhymes, walked into the studio, Low called out to Busta, “I own you. You’re my bitch!”
In early 2013, with elections approaching in Malaysia, Low drove Busta Rhymes around his home state of Penang, where the rapper performed a concert financed by Low. Ooi Keng Eng
At Wharton, Low had fantasized about Paris Hilton, the reality star and model, and by 2010 he had befriended her. Gossip columns speculated this mysterious Asian was Hilton’s new boyfriend. In fact, he paid her hundreds of thousands of dollars in appearance fees to attend his events. GoffPhotos.com
With 1MDB money, Low financed Red Granite Pictures, a production company founded by Riza Aziz (right), the stepson of Prime Minister Najib, and Joey McFarland (left), a former talent booker. Almost overnight McFarland became a top Hollywood producer. Even Swizz Beatz (center) got his first acting role, a bit part in Red Granite’s Dumb and Dumber To.
Red Granite’s coup was buying the rights to The Wolf of Wall Street, which released in December 2013. Low spent three years courting its star, Leonardo DiCaprio, inviting him to parties and presenting him with lavish gifts. For DiCaprio, Red Granite offered independence from the big studios. Getty Images
Low had a girlfriend back in Malaysia, but he also wooed Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr. Low met Kerr at a Korean restaurant in New York in early 2014. The Malaysian lavished her with millions of dollars in jewelry and they vacationed together on Low’s yacht in the Mediterranean. Getty Images
Low bought this townhouse in London’s exclusive Belgravia neighborhood, then transferred ownership to Riza Aziz. The home, costing 17 million pounds, served as a pied-à-terre for Prime Minister Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, on their many trips to London. Tom Wright
In June 2011, Low paid $30.5 million for a penthouse in New York’s Time Warner Center. The 4,825-square-foot unit, with three bedrooms, a library, and a hanging fish tank, offered panoramic views of Central Park. Low made the apartment his base in New York. Getty Images
In 2013 Low began to collect art. To celebrate Najib’s election victory, Low bought Dustheads, a 1982 masterpiece by Jean-Michel Basquiat. He paid $48.8 million for the work, a record for the artist, in a heated bidding war at Christie’s in New York. In all he amassed art worth more than $300 million, including priceless works by Monet and van Gogh. Getty Images
In spring 2014, Low took delivery of the Equanimity, a $250 million yacht that could accommodate twenty-six guests. With its Asian-inspired interior constructed out of wood, bamboo, marble, and gold leaf, the boat helped Low stand out from the merely wealthy. As his scheme began to implode, Low used the yacht as a bolt hole. Associated Press
Ho Kay Tat, publisher of the Edge, a Malaysian weekly, drove the early coverage of the 1MDB scandal. In 2015, the Edge, along with the Sarawak Report, got ahold of PetroSaudi documents from Xavier Justo and published a series of damning stories. Prime Minister Najib suspended the Edge’s publication license and had Ho detained for a night in July 2015. Here Ho greets journalists after his release. The Malaysian Insider
In June 2015, Thai police arrested Xavier Justo on charges of attempting to blackmail PetroSaudi. One of his first visitors in a Bangkok jail was a former British policeman called Paul Finnigan, who was working with PetroSaudi. Finnigan promised to get Justo out by December if he pleaded guilty, according to a later criminal complaint. Justo did as he was told, but in August a Thai judge sentenced him to three years in prison. Royal Thai Police
Prime Minister Najib’s kleptocratic regime sparked protests from ordinary Malaysians. A group known as Bersih, the Malay word for “clean,” organized large demonstrations in 2015 and 2016 calling for Najib to step down over the 1MDB scandal. Here, protesters hold up caricatures (from left to right) of Riza Aziz, Rosmah Mansor, Najib, and Low. Getty Images
In July 2016, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the Justice Department was moving forward with a civil lawsuit, seeking to seize $1 billion in assets bought with money stolen from 1MDB. The assets included Low’s Time Warner Center apartment, the proceeds from The Wolf of Wall Street, as well as multiple other homes, his stake in EMI Music Publishing, and more. The lawsuit referred to Najib as “Malaysian Official 1.” U.S. Department of Justice
Acknowledgments
Writing a book is a team endeavor, and we’re fortunate
to work with a group of talented journalists. At the Wall Street Journal, Patrick Barta, Paul Beckett, and Ken Brown were instrumental in the success of this project.
It was Ken’s early obsession with this story that got us interested, and his sage counsel, as Asia finance editor, kept the project on track. From his position of Asia editor, Paul gave us cover to pursue in-depth reporting, a luxury we don’t take for granted. His unparalleled news judgment and enthusiasm for the story gave us impetus. Patrick skillfully edited many of our pieces, ensuring the significance was not lost in a morass of detail, while making certain our facts were always locked down. All three were the earliest readers of our draft manuscript, and gave us invaluable (and honest!) feedback on structuring, character development, and even pointing out where we had fallen into cliché. Without them, we would not have completed this book.
Thanks to Gerard Baker, the Wall Street Journal’s former editor in chief, and our other bosses—Thorold Barker, Dennis Berman, Rebecca Blumenstein, Andrew Dowell, and Charles Forelle—for giving us the space and time to pursue this project. In an age of round-the-clock news, the Journal’s commitment to deep reporting marks it apart.
The Wall Street Journal’s talented team of lawyers and standards editors ensured we met the highest levels of accuracy for which the paper is known. They helped shape our coverage of an extremely complicated and contentious issue. They include Jason Conti, Jacob Goldstein, Craig Linder, Neal Lipschutz, Karen Pensiero, and Rob Rossi. The page-one editing team, led by Alex Martin, and later Matthew Rose, and including Mike Allen, Dan Kelly, and Mitchell Pacelle, skillfully shaped our pieces.
A number of fellow reporters played a significant role in the coverage of this story: Justin Baer and Mia Lamar led the reporting on Goldman Sachs; Jake Maxwell Watts was industrious following developments in Singapore; Kelly Crow detailed Low’s art market purchases; while Simon Clark played an important early role in coverage. In Los Angeles, John Emshwiller and Ben Fritz followed the Hollywood angles, John Letzing covered investigations in Switzerland, and Nicolas Parasie monitored events in Abu Dhabi. Rachel Louise Ensign and Serena Ng looked at the arcane world of law funds.
Celine Fernandez’s brave and tenacious reporting in Malaysia led to early breakthroughs on 1MDB’s role as a slush fund. James Hookway and Yantoultra Ngui of the Journal’s Southeast Asia bureau, headed by Patrick McDowell, covered the political reaction in Malaysia.
Paolo Bosonin and Tom Di Fonzo of the Journal’s video department produced creative animations and a documentary on the 1MDB scandal, which greatly enhanced our coverage. The Journal’s art department, led by Jessica Yu and MinJung Kim, crafted original ways of bringing the scandal to life through graphics.
Clare Rewcastle-Brown, whose Sarawak Report website broke the first stories on Jho Low, generously shared information and helped us understand the early stages of the fraud. Her website, replete with documents and screen grabs of social media sites before they got taken down, was an important resource for us.
Alex Helan, who was making a documentary about Jho Low, also shared sources and carefully read our manuscript, proffering perceptive suggestions about how to improve the book.
To our editor, Paul Whitlatch at Hachette Books, a huge debt of gratitude. His deft early reading of the manuscript led us away from density and toward lightness. It’s still a complex tale, but Paul’s sense for a story helped make this a more readable work, and his skilled hand gave the prose more vigor. Thanks also to our agents, Steve Troha and Dado Derviskadic at Folio Literary Management, for seeing the potential in this project when it was just a short proposal.
Keith Richburg, director of the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Center, supplied a wonderful space to work on this book and free coffee, as well as carefully reading parts of the draft. Tiernan Downes, who read the draft at least twice, and Nadia Chiarina offered a palatial home in Jakarta for writing. Sue Wright and Mark Hope provided valuable feedback on style and substance.
A number of other people read the manuscript or offered important guidance; they include Sylvain Besson, Luca Fasani, Alex Frangos, Liz Hoffman, Mark Hollingsworth, Deborah Kan, John Lyons, Dejan Nikolic, Andrew Peaple, Raphael Pura, Brad Reagan, Justin Scheck, and Ben Wootliff. There are many others we wish we could thank, but for their safety or by preference they remain anonymous. We appreciate their trust.
Finally, our families—Tom’s wife, Nina, and Bradley’s wife, Farah—provided real-time feedback on draft chapters and endured our obsession over multiple years. Without their support, the book would not have been written.
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Hachette Digital.
To receive special offers, bonus content, and news about our latest ebooks and apps, sign up for our newsletters.
Sign Up
Or visit us at hachettebookgroup.com/newsletters