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Basically, what we found was this:
One of the first deals Jho Low, #1MDB Jho Low, did in the US was with Tom Barrack. If you don't know, Jho Low is Malaysia's most notorious alleged fraudster. He's accused of stealing billions of Malaysian public funds. The 1MDB fund specifically.
The US DoJ would describe their response to #1MDB, as the 'largest single action ever brought by the department’s kleptocracy asset recovery initiative.' It was a huge investigation - a big deal. And #JhoLow would end up being a big deal.
Check out the @sarawak_report , @bradleyhope and @TomWrightAsia 's books and #1MDB reporting. Jho Low essentially took all this Malaysian money and was chillin' with Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, buying a massive yacht, hotels, parties, per these reports and DoJ, but...
Back in 2008, 2009...Jho Low'd studied at @Wharton, was buddies with Malaysia's Prime Minister at the time, Najib Razak but still he was only 28 years old. He didn't have any real investing cred. In comes Tom Barrack....
In 2009, the Beverly Hills L'Ermitage Hotel (why start small?) was owned by Colony Capital. Thomas Barrack was the founder and CEO and Barrack was accepting bids on the hotel. Jho Low put in an offer. But how did the two get connected???
Basically, the Ambassador to the UAE, the @sarawak_report published these emails from GlobalLeaks... sarawakreport.org/2017/08/more-l…
and from the looks of it - it's how Barrack got to know the Ambassador of the UAE...
In one email, Otaiba introduces himself to Thomas Barrack, then writes, “I’m contacting you today to endorse this bid.” He’s referring to Jho Low’s bid to buy the L'Ermitage Hotel, though he doesn’t mention Jho Low by name. ...
“As the UAE Ambassador,” he continues, “I’m confident the bid will surpass your expectations.” And Barrack responds, “Thank you so much for your kind note. I will speak to our team today and get back to you soon. I hope to see you in person in the near future....”
A month later the sale goes through.. Jho Low buys the hotel for close to $45 million. AND according to the Justice Department complaint, Jho Low bought the hotel with money stolen from 1MDB in Malaysia.
And of course now we know what happens with Tom Barrack and the UAE.
Listen to the pod though... it's a wild caper.
revealnews.org/podcast/checki… OR podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/che…
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