Disgraced Financier Jho Low Is Turning Over a Picasso and Basquiat Once Given to Leonardo DiCaprio as Part of a $700 Million Settlement

The disgraced Malaysian
financier and flashy art collector Jho Low will soon hand much of
his flash over to the feds. As part of a settlement with the US
Department of Justice finalized on October 30, Low will forfeit
$700 million worth of assets, including works by Pablo Picasso,
Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Diane Arbus—which were given as gifts to the actor
Leonardo DiCaprio—as well as other treasures by Monet and Van
Gogh.

The settlement, which is still
subject to approval by the courts, is said to be the largest civil
forfeiture ever secured by the Justice Department. It resolves 10
lawsuits brought by the department over allegedly pilfered proceeds
from Malaysia’s sovereign
wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). 

“This settlement agreement
forces Low and his family to relinquish hundreds of millions of
dollars in ill-gotten gains that were intended to be used for the
benefit of the Malaysian people,” Brian Benczkowski, head of the
criminal division of the Justice Department, said in a
statement. 

Other assets surrendered as part
of the deal, according to documents filed by authorities, include
a Bombardier Global 500 jet
and high-end real estate in London, New York, and Los Angeles. A
Justice Department spokesperson told NPR that
authorities plan to use the proceeds to benefit those who were
harmed by the corruption in Malaysia. 

The agreement is a significant
development in the ongoing scandal that has embroiled Malaysia and
ensnared both Goldman Sachs executives and Malaysia’s former Prime
Minister Najib Razak.
American authorities claim that
high-level 1MDB officials, including Low, siphoned more than $4.5
billion from the fund that was intended to fuel economic
development and used the money to finance elaborate purchases
ranging from diamond jewelry to luxury hotels. 

Low, who still faces criminal
prosecution for his alleged role in the 1MDB scheme, denies any
wrongdoing. In a statement provided to Artnet News, he stressed
that the settlement did not constitute an admission of guilt. He
described the agreement with the Justice Department as “a landmark
comprehensive, global settlement” and “an historic agreement” that
is the result of “good-faith discussions.” 

Some of the works of art
forfeited as part of the agreement have particularly notable
histories. Leonardo DiCaprio handed over Picasso’s painting
Nature morte au crâne de
taureau, worth an
estimated $3.2 million, as well as Jean-Michel Basquiat’s
collage Red Man
One (1982) and Diane
Arbus’s photograph Child
With Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park (1962) at the request of federal authorities in
2017. 

Low and DiCaprio became
acquainted through the film production company Red Granite, which
produced the DiCaprio vehicle The Wolf of Wall Street. Red Granite was co-founded by the stepson of
the former Malaysian prime minister, and supposedly received
illicit financing from the 1MDB fund.

In the original complaint
against Low, authorities suggested the financier had given the work
to DiCaprio as a gift, accompanied by a handwritten note from a
friend of Low’s that read, “Dear Leonardo DiCaprio: Happy belated
Birthday! This gift is for you.” (A spokesman for the actor
previously told Artnet News that the work, along with the others he
surrendered to the FBI, were originally due to be sold in an annual
charity auction to benefit his environmental
foundation.) 

Low also surrendered other works
as part of this week’s agreement, documents confirm, including Van
Gogh’s La maison de
Vincent à Arles (1888),
purchased at Christie’s in 2013 for $5.5 million, and
Saint-Georges Majeur
by Monet, which Low bought from
dealer David Nahmad in 2015 for more than $20
million. 

A spokeswoman for Low declined
to comment beyond his prepared statement, and a representative for
the Justice Department did not respond to a request for
comment. 

The post Disgraced Financier Jho Low Is Turning Over a
Picasso and Basquiat Once Given to Leonardo DiCaprio as Part of a
$700 Million Settlement appeared first on artnet
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