$13M from Plundered 1MDB Fund Siphoned to LVS for Gambling

Posted on: November 4, 2024, 04:46h. 

Last updated on: November 4, 2024, 04:46h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

At least US$13 million was siphoned from the Malaysia Development Berhard (1MDB) government fund to Las Vegas Sands properties via a shell company, a financial fraud investigator told a court in Singapore Monday.

Jho Low, 1BMD, LVS, Las Vegas Sands, The Venetian
Fugitive Jho Low, pictured in 2014 at a charity ball in New York, is known to have gambled millions at the Venetian. But Monday’s testimony showed just a few degrees of separation between the 1MDB fund and his account with LVS. (Image: FT.com)

The money was used for high stakes gambling by fugitive Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and his close associate, Eric Tan Kim Loong, according to prosecutors.

Low is a fugitive from justice who is currently believed to be hiding in China.

He is accused of masterminding what has been described as “perhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world” – the theft of US$4.5 billion from 1MDB. The fund was meant for development and infrastructure projects in Malaysia.   

Conspirators in the scheme included government officials from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. In Malayasia, it went right to the top. In 2015, then prime minister Najib Razak was accused of channeling US$700 million into his personal bank account. He was imprisoned for 12 years in 2018 for corruption.

Low Gambled High

That Low gambled for big money in Las Vegas is nothing new. In 2022, a marketing executive for The Venetian, Kirk Godby, revealed that the rogue businessman had wagered US$87 million on the LVS property’s VIP baccarat tables.

Godby was testifying in the trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, who was convicted by the US government later that year of money laundering and bribing foreign officials as part of the 1MDB scandal. He received a 30-year prison sentence.

But the testimony Monday by UK-based financial fraud investigator Richard Templeman showed the close degrees of separation between the 1MDB fund and Low’s LVS account.

Templeman was giving evidence in a civil suit brought by 1MDB and its subsidiaries against several corporate entities accused of handling around US$248million of the stolen funds. These include Red Granite Pictures Inc. and Red Granite Capital Ltd., companies controlled by Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz.

Money Trail

On June 20, 2012, US$41million was transferred from Red Granite Capital to a shell company called Alsen Chance, according to Templeman. The latter existed solely to launder funds misappropriated from 1MDB. The money was then distributed to various entities, including the US$13 million to LVS.

It appears Low got the lion’s share of the gambling money. US$11 million was marked for “PLAYER NO 3454296” and US$2 million for “TAN KIM LOONG PLAYER NO 4678710.”

Three days later, what remained of the buy-ins, US$ 7.35 million and US$1.3 million, were credited to the Alsen Chance account from LVS. The transactions were marked “funds due from Low Taek Jho” and “funds due from Tan Kim Loong.”

Low was an international jetsetter who once dated the model Miranda Kerr and hung around with Hollywood celebrities. In 2011, he allegedly purchased a $325,000 white Ferrari as a wedding present for Kim Kardashian, and he showered Leonardi DiCaprio with Picassos and Basquiats, which the latter has since returned.

Low even invested US$100 million in the production of the Oscar-nominated Wolf of Wall Street, a film that deals with themes of fraud and reckless corporate greed.