Red Granite Pictures, a US film production company co-founded by Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz, has agreed to settle with the US government involving a case filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to sequester assets purchased using stolen money from sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“The parties are pleased to inform the court that Red Granite and the US government have reached a settlement in principle,” said Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, the law firm representing the company.
The case filed by the DoJ alleged that Najib’s close acquaintances, like stepson Riza Aziz and businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) have stolen about US$4.5 billion from the fund between 2009 and 2014.
It claimed that some of the pilfered money went to fund the production of Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2013 blockbuster film “The Wolf of Wall Street”, which generated nearly US$400 million in global ticket sales.
Aside from that, DoJ wants to seize the rights to two movies co-produced by Red Granite, namely “Daddy’s Home” and “Dumb and Dumber To”. Released in 2015, Paramount Pictures’ “Daddy’s Home” starring Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell raked in US$243 million, while Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels’ 2014 film Dumb and Dumber To” grossed US$170 million.
In total, DoJ believes that US$1.7 billion assets were acquired in the US using stolen fund from 1MBD. Among them is a Picasso painting gifted to Leonardo DiCaprio and jewellery valued at millions of dollars given to Australian actress and model Miranda Kerr.
Although the settlement’s details are still being fine-tuned, Red Granite said the agreement is still subject to final documentation and requires the US government’s approval. However, it is believed that the company will likely surrender its rights to the three aforementioned films.
Meanwhile, Politico reported on Friday (15 September) that the lawyer leading a DoJ case to confiscate US assets that were allegedly bought using embezzled cash from 1MDB has joined another high-profile investigation.
Kyle Freeny is now part of Robert Mueller’s team, which is investigating whether members of President Donald Trump’s campaign conspired with the Russian government during the US Elections last year.
Image sourced from Movie Menzzanine.
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