KUALA LUMPUR – Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind behind the looting of the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, was ordered to forfeit a trio of “flawless” diamonds he bought for his mother.
These diamonds were from a jeweller who has designed pieces for celebrities such as Beyoncé and Adele, Bloomberg reported.
A US federal judge in Los Angeles yesterday ordered the fugitive financier, known as Jho Low, to surrender claims to a 7.35-carat diamond ring as well as matching diamond earrings, both greater than three carats.
The judge ruled they were purchased through the looting of billions of dollars from the fund.
The ring is valued at about US$1.17 million (RM5.48 million), while the earrings are worth about US$628,000, according to the US government.
The three diamonds were made by New York designer Lorraine Schwartz.
The US prosecutors also claimed that Schwartz also created a US$23 million necklace with a huge pink diamond, large enough to be used as a paperweight.
Schwartz personally delivered this necklace to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, wife of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, according to US court testimony.
US district judge Dale Fischer in Los Angeles described the diamonds as a gift from Low to his mother Evelyn and ruled that the jewels were “criminal proceeds” of the 1MDB fraud.
Low remains a fugitive from prosecution by both US and Malaysian authorities.
He reached a deal in June with the US Justice Department to return more than US$100 million of assets, which the government alleges he acquired using funds from 1MDB.
He was charged along with former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, who was convicted at trial in New York in 2022.
Meanwhile, in a related case, Jasmine Loo, a former lawyer for 1MDB, was ordered Monday to forfeit a Pablo Picasso pencil sketch drawing titled Trois Femmes Nues et Buste d’Homme, which she purchased for about US$1.4 million.
Loo, who was charged by authorities in Malaysia and testified against Najib this year, also agreed to surrender US$25,000 held in a Swiss bank account. – July 23, 2024
