Red Granite Pictures, Money Laundering, California 2023

LOS ANGELES, California – In a massive corruption case, the United States government is seeking to recover approximately $540 million in assets associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

The Justice Department filed civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of the assets, which include Red Granite Pictures’ interest in the movies ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ and ‘Daddy’s Home’, a condominium in New York City worth nearly $5 million, diamond jewelry, artworks by Picasso and Basquiat, and a $260 million megayacht called The Equanimity.

The complaints filed today seek the forfeiture of Red Granite Pictures’ interest in various assets, totaling almost $1.7 billion, combined with civil forfeiture complaints filed in July 2016 that seek more than $1 billion, and civil forfeiture complaints filed last week that seek approximately $100 million in assets.

According to the complaints, from 2009 through 2015, more than $4.5 billion in funds belonging to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates.

‘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 Acting United States Attorney Sandra R. Brown.

Red Granite Pictures, a Malaysian film production company, is the defendant in this case. The exact criminal charges are civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of approximately $540 million in assets associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

The case is ongoing, and no sentence or outcome has been determined yet. The dollar amount in question is approximately $540 million, and the city and state involved are Los Angeles, California.

The Justice Department is seeking to recover the assets, which include a condominium in New York City worth nearly $5 million, diamond jewelry, artworks by Picasso and Basquiat, and a $260 million megayacht called The Equanimity.

Related Federal Cases