‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Producer Pleads Not Guilty to Malaysia Corruption Charges

(Bloomberg) -- Riza Aziz, one of the producers of “The Wolf of Wall Street” movie and the stepson of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, pleaded not guilty to charges linked to 1MDB and sought trial.

Riza was charged with five counts of money laundering in a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday. He was accused of receiving a total of $248.2 million of funds allegedly siphoned from the troubled state fund. He was released on 1 million ringgit ($241,809) bail.

Malaysia is focusing its efforts toward recouping funds believed to have been lost through 1MDB, with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission filing a forfeiture lawsuit in June that mentioned Najib’s family members including Riza. The scandal surrounding 1MDB has reached the highest levels of the country’s politics and embroiled Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in a criminal case.

Riza is a co-founder of Red Granite Pictures Inc., which reached a $60 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department last year over claims that it financed the movie with money siphoned from 1MDB. The U.S. has since returned the funds to Malaysia together with proceeds from sale of assets that once belonged to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, a friend of Riza.

Good Star

The Malaysian charges against Riza detail transactions in 2011 and 2012 from Good Star Ltd., which has been linked to Low, to a bank account in Los Angeles belonging to Red Granite Productions Inc. Riza is also accused of receiving funds from Aabar Investments PJS Ltd. to an account in Singapore belonging to Red Granite Capital Ltd., including one $133 million transfer in June 2012. Prosecutors allege that the money was misappropriated from 1MDB.

Riza is the son of Rosmah Mansor, wife of Malaysia’s former leader Najib, from a previous marriage. He was already brought in for questioning by the MACC in July last year, but was not charged at the time. Najib is currently on trial for seven of the 42 charges he faces for his alleged role in 1MDB, while Rosmah is also facing corruption charges. Both Najib and Rosmah have pleaded not guilty.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net;Hadi Azmi in Kuala Lumpur at klnews@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net, Anuradha Raghu

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