KUALA LUMPUR — US$2.4 million (RM10.46 million) allegedly belonging to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) was channelled to celebrity Kim Kardashian and musician Pharrell Williams by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, the high court here was told today.
Low transferred US$306,000 to Kardashian and another US$100,000 to her and now ex-husband Kris Humphries, financial fraud investigator Richard Templeman said in his witness statement in a civil suit brought by 1MDB against its former CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy and former Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
Another US$2.025 million was given by Low to a company named Talamasca Inc, linked to Williams.
The funds disbursed to Pharell were for “music production”, Templeman said, based on the transaction information he found.
As for the sums paid to Kardashian and Humphries, he said the purpose of those payments remains unknown.
Templeman said the monies were transferred from the accounts of Low’s shell company Good Star Ltd, which had received US$1.03 billion in two tranches — US$700 million and US$300 million — from 1MDB.
The US$1.03 billion payment, Templeman said, was from a joint venture agreement between 1MDB and PSI Holdings, a subsidiary of PetroSaudi International Ltd.
The witness also said that 1MDB had misrepresented to banks that Good Star was wholly owned by PSI.
“These funds were transferred through a series of offshore companies and used for, inter alia, the personal benefit of the co-conspirators and their relatives and associates,” Templeman said in his witness statement filed on September 6.
PetroSaudi International Ltd’s former chief investment officer Patrick Mahony was the target in another civil suit by 1MDB seeking US$1.83 billion from Mahony and British law firm White & Case.
In its suit, 1MDB highlighted several “suspicious” transactions which benefitted Low with US$700 million.
Templeman today said other sums of money were also paid from Good Star’s account to other entities, using alleged 1MDB funds.
These entities included Chelsea Hospital Partners LLC which received US$1 million, Greenberg Traurig International (US$124,313) and Blackhawk Partners Inc (US$285,000).
Other entities were Baby Sounds Productions (US$100,000), California Community Foundation (US$100,000) and Kudos Global International (US$475,000).
Templeman is a director of investigations at Kroll Advisory Ltd and is leading the ongoing investigations into the funds misappropriated from 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd which flowed through liquidated companies.
In May 2021, 1MDB filed a lawsuit against Irwan and Arul Kanda over an alleged breach of trust and conspiracy that resulted in US$1.83 billion in losses related to the company’s investment in the 1MDB-PSI joint venture.
1MDB is seeking US$6.59 billion in damages from both defendants for these violations and an additional RM2.9 million from Irwan related to the extension of employment agreement.
The civil trial is currently before judicial commissioner Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan. — September 9, 2024
