US DOJ seizes luxury New York apartment linked to 1MDB

The US Justice Department (DOJ) has obtained a forfeiture order on a luxury New York apartment allegedly bought with misappropriated 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.



In a statement on May 27, the DOJ's Public Affairs office said this resolves a civil forfeiture case filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California seeking the recovery of over US$6 million in assets tied to an international money-laundering conspiracy involving the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.



The DOJ said as alleged in civil forfeiture complaints filed in this case, billions of dollars in funds belonging to 1MDB were misappropriated from 2009 through 2015 by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates and fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) through a criminal scheme involving international money laundering and embezzlement.



"Millions of dollars in such misappropriated funds were then used to purchase a luxury condominium unit in New York City for the benefit of May Ling Catherine Tan, a personal assistant for Low, who profited from this asset by retaining rental proceeds.



"Under the forfeiture order entered in this case, the condominium and rental proceeds held by Tan will be forfeited to the United States government," the statement read.