The US Department of Justice has outlined transfers of US$73.5 million to three alleged 1MDB co-conspirators in its latest civil forfeiture suit, which had not been mentioned in previous filings.
In the suit, which was filed on Friday in California, the DOJ claimed that these funds were diverted from 1MDB's bond offering in 2013 during the Tanore phase of the scandal.
The alleged recipients were Khadem Abdulla al-Qubaisi, former managing director of Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC); Mohamed Al-Husseiny, former CEO of IPIC subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS; and Jasmine Loo, 1MDB’s former executive director of group strategy.
The new details pick up from the DOJ's 2017 lawsuit, which stated that US$414.75 million from the 2013 bond offering was diverted through Curacao-based investment fund Enterprise Emerging Market Funds.
Read more: 'Stolen' 1MDB Funds: the DOJ lawsuit revisited
Of these funds, US$250 million ended up in a bank account held in the name of Tanore Finance Corporation. The account was managed by Eric Tan Kim Loong, an associate of fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho.
A further US$171.3 million went to then 1MDB subsidiary SRC International.
The latest document states that on April 5, 2013, US$100 million was transferred to an account at the Riyad Bank in Saudi Arabia, that was controlled by an individual dubbed 'Saudi Associate 2'.
'Saudi Associate 2' would later disburse US$10 million to Loo, US$24 million to Qubaisi (photo), and US$39.5 million to Suaad al-Attas, the former wife of al-Husseiny.
The money was disbursed to the trio between late April and early May 2013.
Attas would later transfer the money in several transactions to accounts held by either her, or Husseiny.
Husseiny would then use almost US$4.1 million to purchase a luxury property in New York called Oceana 57 in 2015. It was sold in 2018 for US$5.4 million.
Meanwhile, Loo is said to have spent almost US$3.1 million on a property in London in January 2014. According to the DOJ, the property, owned by a company called Red Mountain Global Ltd, was allegedly purchased “on behalf of and for the personal benefit of Loo.”
Both Loo's Red Mountain property, and the proceeds from the sale of Oceana 57, are being sought by the DOJ.
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