Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, the Malaysian businessman who have allegedly pocketed large sums of money that led to the bankruptcy of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) now faces the forfeiture of a hotel in New York.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, a US court has allowed the Department of Justice (DoJ) and New York developer Steven Witkoff to go ahead with their plan to dispose the Park Lane Hotel.
District Court Judge Dale Fischer permitted the move, in line with a deal between Witkoff and the US authorities to address the hotel’s financial problems, as well as oust Low from the group that owns it.
Notably, a consortium led by Witkoff bought the Manhattan property in 2013 from the estate of Leona Helmsley from US$654 million, with Low providing most of the money for the purchase.
Aside from the said property, the Malaysian has been fighting in court to prevent his multi-million dollar assets in the country from falling into the hands of the US government.
These include a US$30 million (RM133.5 million) penthouse at Time Warner Center in New York, a Bombardier Jet valued at US$35 million (RM155.75 million) and a US$107 million (RM476.15 million) stake in EMI Music Publishing.
The DoJ insists that it has the right to seize Low’s 55 percent stake in the hotel, as the money he used for the acquisition was illegally obtained.
Furthermore, he has dropped out of the public’s eye since almost two years ago, after news broke out regarding the billion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal.
Image sourced from South China Morning Post
Radin Ghazali, Content Writer at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email radin@propertyguru.com.my
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