It's got to be one of the most on-the-nose and ironic legal cases in film history.
Red Granite Pictures, one of the main financiers of 2012's Wolf Of Wall Street, is now being investigated by the FBI and Department of Justice for allegedly using stolen money from a Malaysian government development fund to fund its production.
The civil forfeiture suit, filed earlier today by the Department of Justice, is claiming that Malaysia's 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB for short) fund was used to finance 2012's Wolf Of Wall Street through Red Granite Pictures, which is owned by flamboyant CEO Riza Aziz. He is also the stepson of Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak.
Mr. Razak was not named in the DOJ's suit, however it has caused huge political turmoil for him in Malaysia.
The suit contends that $64,000,000 of 1MDB's money can be traced directly to Red Granite Pictures, despite Riza Azis's repeated claims that there was no Malaysian money involved. A full statement from Red Granite Pictures reads as follows:
"To Red Granite’s knowledge, none of the funding it received four years ago was in any way illegitimate and there is nothing in today’s civil lawsuit claiming that Red Granite knew otherwise. Red Granite continues to cooperate fully with all inquiries and is confident that when the facts come out, it will be clear that Riza Aziz and Red Granite did nothing wrong."
The suit also details the extravagant spending that took place between Riza Aziz, other officials in Red Granite Pictures and a lead actor in Wolf of Wall Street. Shell companies were also set up to pay off gambling debts in Las Vegas, rent luxury yachts, buy works of art and amass a huge property portfolio across the US, UK and Asia.
The suit doesn't specifically name who the actor is, however. You can read the filing and lawsuit in here, if you've got a couple of hours free.
Via Deadline
