The move compounded court cases launched previous year in which Washington sought to confiscate more than $1 billion allegedly embezzled by businessmen with political connections in Malaysia - bringing the total amount USA officials say was stolen to $4.5 billion. They then allegedly laundered the money through shell companies with bank accounts in the United States and overseas. "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", said acting assistant attorney general Kenneth Blanco.
"Sure, I mean it's certainly not a good thing for a prominent actor to be in the headline that says the government is looking seize their assets, you know, certainly Leonardo DiCaprio has reacted very carefully to this whole thing emphasizing that he is cooperating with authorities". The movies were produced by Red Granite, which was founded by Riza Aziz, Najib's stepson.
According to The Guardian, DiCaprio has also begun the procedure to transfer the ownership of the Picasso painting to the USA government.
The 42-year-old actor, who won an Academy Award himself for his role in 2016's The Revenant, was gifted the rare statuette a few years back by production company Red Granite - who helped finance The Wolf of Wall Street and passed Brando's prize on to him upon that film's wrapping.
"And the DoJ made it clear that a civil forfeiture complaint is merely an allegation that money or property was involved in or represents the proceeds of a crime and that these allegations are not proven until a court says so", he explained. His representatives did not identify the other gifts but prosecutors said this week that they would seek to seize a Picasso painting, a Jean-Michel Basquiat collage and a photograph by Diane Arbus.
Darjeeling turns into battleground, police firing kills 2 GJM men
According to the police, the GJM supporter who died during the clashes became the victim of firing from the supporters only. Refusing to get intimidated by the protesters, CM Banerjee on Monday said that she will not "bow down to threats".
DiCaprio and Low signed a note in March 2014 absolving the star of "any liability whatsoever resulting directly or indirectly from these art-work", according to the filings.
"This week's activity from the DOJ is a further example of global overreach in pursuit of a deeply flawed case", Mr. Mr. DiCaprio is grateful for the support of the government in this effort, and continues to hope that justice is done in this matter'.
The Sarawak Report, who has doggedly exposed misconduct in this case, lays out all of the sordid details of his dealings, including presenting supermodel Miranda Kerr with a fabulously expensive and specially commissioned set of diamonds - a matching 18k white gold diamond necklace, bracelet and ring, costing US$2 million; an 8.8-carat pink diamond heart-shaped pendant costing US$3.8 million, and two 5-carat "internally-flawless, pear-shaped diamond earrings" bought for just over a million dollars.
An aide to the prime minister's wife, Rosmah Mansor, did not respond to requests for comment.
Rasky Partners, a public relations firm that emailed his statement, could not be immediately reached by phone. 1MDB is a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund created in 2009.
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