Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has turned over an Oscar won by Marlon Brando to U.S. investigators probing alleged money laundering by a state-owned Malaysian investment fund, his representatives said on Thursday.
It’s part of an effort to seize luxury property, art and other ill-gotten assets linked to fraud with the government-controlled fund, which is intended to promote economic development projects in the Asian nation.
Prosecutors are also seeking the return of a $165 million yacht known as the Equanimity, rights to the movie “Dumb and Dumber To,” artwork by Picasso and Basquiat and millions of dollars in jewelry.
DiCaprio has initiated the return of other, unidentified items that the actor said he accepted as gifts for a charity auction and which originated from people connected to the 1MDB wealth fund, a representative said in a statement.
The 1MDB (short for “1Malaysia Development Berhad”) wealth fund is supposed to funnel international investment money into development projects that benefit the Malaysian people, but the U.S. Justice Department says that more than $4.5 billion has been stolen from the fund in a complex money laundering network linked to top-level officials of the fund, including some who are close to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Najib has denied wrongdoing.
The case is the largest single action the Justice Department has taken under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which seeks to recover foreign bribery proceeds and embezzled funds.
“These cases involve billions of dollars that should have been used to help the people of Malaysia, but instead was used by a small number of individuals to fuel their astonishing greed,” said Sandra R. Brown, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. She described a “web of lies and bogus transactions” and said “we simply will not allow the United States to be a place where corrupt individuals can expect to hide assets and lavishly spend money that should be used for the benefit of citizens of other nations.”
