When Art imitates Life: it turns out The Wolf of Wall Street was made with embezzled funds

[Snowboarder_Bo]

[VICE has the story here:

From 2009 to 2015, more than $4.5 billion disappeared from a Malaysian government fund and made its way across the globe through shell companies and shady bank accounts, a Department of Justice complaint alleged Friday. Now, the US government is looking to claw some of that money back—and, in a bizarre turn of events—wants Hollywood to fork over millions in assets the DOJ says were purchased with dirty money.

The cash in question originated from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a fund the country’s government established to collect money from foreign investors with the ultimate goal of “improving the well-being of the Malaysian people,” according to the DOJ. The department alleges top-tier Malaysian officials—including Prime Minister Najib Razak—“misappropriated” the money, stashing it in offshore accounts and using it to buy a laundry list of luxury goods.

Among a host of other places, the investigation led the feds to Red Granite Pictures—a Hollywood production company behind The Wolf of Wall Street, Dumb and Dumber To, and Daddy’s Home—which the DOJ accused of laundering stolen money and using it to finance the films. The department is looking to scoop up more than $25 million worth of goods and holdings from Riza Aziz, Red Granite’s co-founder and Prime Minister Razak’s stepson.

In its 2016 complaint, the DOJ went after the rights to The Wolf of Wall Street; now, the feds are seeking the same for Dumb and Dumber To and Daddy’s Home. The DOJ also accused Red Granite of using embezzled money to purchase a Picasso and an Oscar gifted to Leonardo DiCaprio, both of which the actor recently turned over to investigators, according to the New York Times.

]('Dumb and Dumber To' Was Funded with Stolen Money, Feds Say)Here’s the New York Times story.

And here’s the DOJ complaint and the original civil forfeiture notice from last year.