The U.S. Says a $4.5 Billion Heist Helped Fund The Wolf of Wall Street

In February 2018, Indonesian police and the FBI boarded a $250 million superyacht off Bali. US prosecutors say it was bought with money taken from a Malaysian government fund called 1MDB — part of more than $4.5 billion they allege was misappropriated between 2009 and 2015. They say the same money bought a Monet, a pink diamond, and helped finance The Wolf of Wall Street. A former prime minister was jailed. Goldman Sachs agreed to pay more than $5 billion. The man accused of running it has never stood trial. CHAPTERS 00:00 Bali, 28 February 2018 01:36 The Fund 03:18 The Bank 05:30 The Spending 09:07 The Leak 10:54 The World Moves 12:28 The Fall 14:18 The Reckoning FAIRNESS NOTE Najib Razak's conviction in the SRC case is final. His December 2025 conviction in the main 1MDB trial is under appeal; he denies wrongdoing and says he was misled. Low Taek Jho ("Jho Low") is charged in the United States and Malaysia, has never stood trial, and maintains his innocence; his asset settlements admit nothing. The $4.5 billion figure is an allegation by the US Justice Department, not a court finding. Red Granite Pictures settled without admitting wrongdoing and denies knowingly taking illicit money; Riza Aziz has never been convicted. Rosmah Mansor has never been convicted of a 1MDB offence. Leonardo DiCaprio and Miranda Kerr were never accused of wrongdoing and returned the gifts. Goldman Sachs' Malaysian unit and Tim Leissner pleaded guilty; Roger Ng was convicted by a US jury. The figures an FBI agent gave at Roger Ng's trial are sworn testimony, not findings against anyone else; Najib Razak has never been charged in the United States. Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony were convicted at first instance in Switzerland, deny wrongdoing and said they would appeal. Pras Michel was convicted by a US jury and is appealing. HOW THIS FILM WAS MADE Greywire reconstructs events with AI-generated photoreal figures and sets. Every person you see is an invented individual - none is a likeness of any real person, living or dead. The people the narration names are shown only by the role the film gives them, never with a face presented as theirs; for the named people in this story the figure's face is never shown at all, and no politician or head of state is depicted. Documents, screens and diagrams are reconstructions of the published record, not the originals. Real locations are licensed stock footage, unaltered. The narration is a synthetic voice. No real person's face or voice is simulated. MAIN SOURCES US Department of Justice: civil forfeiture complaints and press releases, 20 July 2016 and 15 June 2017; indictment of Low Taek Jho and Ng Chong Hwa, 1 Nov 2018; Goldman Sachs resolution, 22 Oct 2020; Low settlements, 30 Oct 2019 and 26 June 2024 US SEC: order 34-90243 and press release 2020-265 (Goldman Sachs) Monetary Authority of Singapore: BSI Bank, 24 May 2016 Swiss Attorney General statement, 29 Jan 2016 Federal Court of Malaysia: Najib v Public Prosecutor, 23 Aug 2022 Kuala Lumpur High Court verdict, 26 Dec 2025 (reported by Malay Mail, The Edge, AP, Al Jazeera) Bernama: Pardons Board decision, 2 Feb 2024; MACC recoveries, 6 May 2026 Malaysian Finance Ministry figures to Parliament, 9 July 2026 (The Star) Sarawak Report, "Heist of the Century", 28 Feb 2015 Reporting by The Wall Street Journal, The Edge, Malay Mail, Malaysiakini, ABC (Australia), CBS, CNBC, artnet, OCCRP Greywire — follow the wire.