Jho Low’s family broadens bid to protect US$650 mil nest egg

SINGAPORE (Dec 6): Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho’s family is broadening its bid to prevent the US from seizing US$650 million ($923 million) in real estate and business investments the government claims was acquired with funds stolen from his home country.

Four relatives of the businessman better known as Jho Low will seek court orders in the Cayman Islands and New Zealand to replace the trustees who control the assets. The Swiss trustees have declined to contest the US forfeiture action because they are worried about being prosecuted for money laundering if they do, according to the relatives, who include Low’s father and brother.

The Low family members, who reside in Malaysia, disclosed their intent to try to replace the trustees while seeking to postpone a hearing set for Dec. 12 in Los Angeles on whether they have the right to intervene in the US cases. The family members say they are the beneficiaries of the trusts that hold the assets, and if they or a replacement trustee aren’t allowed to bring a claim, their possessions will go to the US by default.

---

Related Stories

• Najib offers unreserved apology, regrets that 1MDB scandal happened under his watch
• A rebuttal to Leslie Lopez’s allegation of a political conspiracy and his claim about being the first to expose 1MDB
• 1MDB fugitive Jho Low must forfeit mum’s trio of ‘flawless’ diamonds

---