Fugitive Jho Low paid stars like DiCaprio, Kardashian to attend parties, exec testifies

Leonardo DiCaprio was allegedly paid $150,000 to attend events thrown by a Malaysian businessman needed for embezzling a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a sovereign improvement fund.
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A Malaysian fugitive who allegedly made off with $700 million as a part of a rip-off to defraud a sovereign wealth fund spent lavishly on events that included six-figure funds to celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Megan Fox and Paris Hilton, an government testified in courtroom.

DiCaprio was as soon as paid $150,000 and flown on a personal jet to a celebration in Las Vegas that was hosted by Jho Low, who's on the lam after siphoning off massive sums from the 1MDB Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Low’s expenditures have been the topic of testimony on Tuesday in Brooklyn federal courtroom, the place former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng is standing trial on costs of cash laundering and bribery.

Ng and his then-boss, Tim Leissner, allegedly helped Low embezzle funds from 1MDB in trade for bribes and kickbacks.

Leissner, the estranged husband of trend mannequin Kimora Lee Simmons, has pleaded responsible and is cooperating with federal prosecutors. He's anticipated to take the witness stand this week and testify in opposition to Ng.

Jho Low is needed by authorities in Malaysia for allegedly stealing some $700 million from the 1MDB sovereign improvement fund.

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Roger Ng is being charged by the federal authorities with cash laundering and bribery.

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Tim Leissner, Ng’s former boss at Goldman Sachs, is ready to take the witness stand and testify in opposition to Ng.

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Alex Cohen, the chief monetary officer of Strategic Group, a agency that organized events for Low, testified on Tuesday that he helped manage a number of occasions that included A-list friends corresponding to Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jamie Foxx, and Fergie.

He informed the jury that Low would pay extravagant charges to Hilton ($100,000); Fox ($250,000); and Kim Kardashian ($50,000) in trade for his or her attendance.

The federal authorities alleges that the events have been funded by stolen cash from 1MDB.

Ng pocketed $35 million in kickbacks as a part of a “brazen” rip-off, in keeping with prosecutors.

Megan Fox was among the many celebrities allegedly paid six figures by Low to attend one among his events.

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Kim Kardashian additionally was reportedly paid for her look.

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Brent Wible, the federal prosecutor who's looking for to place Ng in jail, alleged Ng secretly agreed with Leissner and Low to assist take a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for 3 bond offers tied to 1MDB that have been initially meant for improvement tasks in Malaysia, in keeping with Bloomberg.

“This was a scheme to steal $1 billion,” Brent Wible informed the jury in his opening assertion. “The defendant Roger Ng noticed a chance to get wealthy by dishonest.”

However Ng’s lawyer put the blame on Ng’s then-boss, Leissner, who pursued a high-flying lifetime of luxurious like Low and sought out cash to purchase personal planes, yachts and houses in Beverly Hills, identical to the Malaysian financier.

Leissner purchased properties “for all the ladies in his life” and have become a “mini model of Low,” in keeping with protection legal professional stated.