Low Taek Jho, better known to the world as Jho Low, is a Chinese Malay businessman, born in Penang province, who used his connections to the Middle East and the family of the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, to launch and gain control of a sovereign wealth fund called 1 Malaysia Berhad Development (1MDB).

While nominally created to invest in infrastructure projects to help the people of Malaysia, Low and his co-conspirators used 1MDB funds to finance a lavish lifestyle of partying and excess, which included extravagant gifts for himself and his friends, hanging out with celebrities in places like Las Vegas and Monaco, and a custom made super-yacht called the Equanimity which cost over $350 million. Low would end up stealing untold billions of dollars from the fund.

He is currently on the run from authorities and rumored to be hiding in China.

1MDB is an acronym for 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, a sovereign wealth fund created by former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak.

This fund was created to invest in infrastructure projects in Malaysia, to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of its citizens. However, the government funds deposited into 1MDB were used for more nefarious purposes, including $681 million of which were deposited into the personal bank accounts of Najib Razak.

Najib Razak also used 1MDB funds to finance extravagant shopping trips for his wife, Rosmah Mansor. When Najib Razak was arrested in 2018, authorities seized 284 boxes of luxury handbags and 72 bags filled with jewelry, cash, watches and other valuables.

The Wolf of Wall Street, the hit movie directed by Martin Scorsese, was privately financed by funds stolen from 1MDB. Two of the film’s main producers were Riza Aziz, the step-son of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak; and Joey McFarland, Riza’s good friend who was introduced to Riza on a ski vacation with Paris Hilton financed by Jho Low. All royalties from The Wolf of Wall Street were seized by the Department of Justice in 2017.

In 2013, Jho Low and Steven Witkoff, a New York property developer, won a bidding war for the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, a 47-story building overlooking Central Park, for $654 million. Low clinched the deal by agreeing to finance a $100 million down payment, more than double the usual amount for this type of transaction. He also agreed to fund 85% of the deal, with Witkoff’s investor group taking a 15% stake. The deal closed in November 2013 and Low paid his initial $200 million with money taken from a 1MDB/Goldman Sachs bond offering.

Miranda Kerr, the Victoria Secret model, met Jho Low in January of 2014 at the New Wonjo Restaurant in Koreatown of New York. They bond over discussions on how to increase her cosmetics business and he invites her to watch the Super Bowl in a luxury box with Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland. He woos her by purchasing a $1.3 million heart-shaped diamond necklace. A few weeks later, Low rents out a venue in Chelsea Piers and throws a 90’s themed birthday party for Kerr’s 31st birthday, with Jamie Foxx hosting, and Salt-N-Pepa and Vanilla Ice performing. Low later gifts Kerr with $2 million of jewelry during a vacation to Naples, Italy.

Kerr later voluntarily gave back the gifts she received from Low to the United States government.