The step-sister of Raza Aziz posted today that the owner of Red Granite Films and movie producer of “Wolf of Wall Street” has been arrested in Malaysia in the 1MBD money laundering scheme.
Yana Najib wrote: “Today MACC decided to charge my brother. He has faced a civil lawsuit over the same subject matter in the US. As part of the settlement, Red Granite has paid a substantial amount to the DOJ. But despite the settlement in the US and the fact that alleged wrong-doings occurred entirely outside of Malaysia, MACC decides to press charges after a whole year of leaving this case in cold storage.
He is not a criminal, he’s my brother.”
The 1MBD scandal — in which Aziz was accused of using a public fund in Malaysia set up by his stepfather. the prime minister, to pay for “Wolf,” other movies like “Daddy’s Home” and the “Dumb and Dumber” sequel, expensive art work and so on — reached all the way to star Leonardo DiCaprio. Aziz gave DiCaprio pieces of art to be auctioned off at his Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation gala in St. Tropez. The art eventually had to be returned. Aziz was in business with Malaysia con man Low Taek Jho, aka Jho Lo, who became DiCaprio’s third criminal pal in the Oscar winner’s sketchy business Life. (The other two were now dead fraudster Dana Giacchetto and formerly imprisoned art dealer Helly Nahmad.)
There is still no public accounting for DiCaprio’s foundation, by the way. Most charities and private foundations file Form 990s with the IRS which are on public view. But DiCaprio’s foundation is hidden under a California trust that doesn’t break out individual numbers. So there’s no way of knowing how the Malaysian money was intermingled with Leo’s.
“Wolf of Wall Street” was based on the story of crooked Long Island stock broker Jordan Belfort. But it turns out that the story of making the Martin Scorsese movie was much more interesting as life imitated art.
More to come…
Pic taken before heading off this morning”
