'The Wolf of Wall Street' Movie Was Financed With Stolen Money, Says DOJ (nydailynews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NY Daily News: Federal officials charged a $3.5 billion Malaysian money-laundering scheme helped finance the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "Wolf of Wall Street" -- the Hollywood tale that parallels the corruption charges. U.S. officials seek to recover $1.3 billion of the missing funds, including profits from the Martin Scorsese-directed movie that earned five Oscar nominations. The conspirators used some of their illicit cash to fund Scorsese's tale of "a corrupt stockbroker who tried to hide his own illicit profits in a perceived foreign safe haven," said U.S. Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell. DiCaprio famously played the lead role of convicted fraudster Jordan Belfort, who was ordered to repay $110 million to 1,500 victims of his scam. The identified conspirators included movie producer Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, the prime minister's stepson, and businessman Low Taek John, a friend of Najib's family. A third scammer identified only as "Malaysian Official 1" was widely believed to be Najib. Court papers indicated that $681 million from a 2013 bond sale went directly into the official's private account. The nation's attorney-general, Mohamed Apandi, came to Najib's defense Thursday, expressing his "strong concerns at the insinuations and allegations" brought against the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Apandi's office, after investigating the $681 million bank deposit, announced in January that the funds were a donation from the Saudi royal family. The prime minister wound up returning most of the cash. Federal officials, in their California court filing, indicated they were hoping to seize proceeds from the 2013 movie, along with luxury properties in New York and California, artwork by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $35 million private jet. Investigations of 1MDB are already underway in Switzerland and Singapore, with officials in the latter announcing Thursday that they had seized assets worth $176 million. This is shaping up to be the largest U.S. Justice Department asset recovery action in history.

Comments

Where is the disclaimer??

[NotInHere]

Disclaimer: Slashdot does not condone stolen money!!

Where did the money come from?

[HBI]

Money laundering is the most opaque concept ever. I used to be an officer at a bank (they made all of the network guys exempt bank officers) and had to go through repeated briefings on this, and no one could explain money laundering to my satisfaction. It appears to be "transactions the government doesn't like" rather than anything in particular.

Re:Where did the money come from?

[elrous0]

The money comes from illegal deals, sales, and trades. And someone wants to "launder" it to make look like it came from legitimate income or investment.

Re:Where did the money come from?

[PCM2]

Above and beyond that ... so you're telling me a Hollywood movie ... was financed ... using accounting tricks ... that could be defined as money laundering.

Wait a sec.

Give me a minute to process this.

Pressure ... in skull ... building .... NHGH

Re:Where did the money come from?

[alexander_686]

Laws have to factor in both actions and intent. If one relied on only one or the other abuses could occur. I suspect that you are having issues with the nebulas nature of intent.

Most fraud and white collar rely more highly on this than other crimes. Partly this is because criminals are more inventive and imaginative then legislators. Partly this is because the western legal system is designed to ban actions, not proscribe actions. i.e., if a law says you can't do something than you can do it.

I share some of your unease on overreaching laws but I think intent has to a important factor.

Re:Where did the money come from?

[AK Marc]

Tax fraud and other charges were laid, structuring was added as one of many charges, though the anti-structuring people make it sound like it was the only thing he was investigated/charged with. Guilty of 58 charges, but you make it sound like the one structuring charge was the only thing he was investigated and charged with.

He argued that his for-profit amusement park was not taxable because it belonged to God.

That is so appropriate.

[gurps_npc]

About the only thing more appropriate would be if the film was financed by the actual guy the movie was written about!

Doing it right.

[Hylandr]

This is how you de-fund terrorism.

They got Al Capone on Tax evasion. :)