DiCaprio laid bare his relationship with Jho Low in 2018 FBI interview
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio told the FBI of attending ‘outlandish parties’ hosted by the accused financial fraudster who funded his movie The Wolf of Wall Street, new documents show.
DiCaprio met with an FBI agent and federal prosecutors in April 2018 to discuss his relationship with Jho Low, according to a leaked FBI summary of the interview published by Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday.
Low, 41, is a Malaysian businessman who has been on the run since 2018, when he was criminally charged in the US with masterminding a scheme to embezzle $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhard (1MDB).
Before the scheme unraveled, Low hobnobbed with celebrities and showered them with lavish gifts, as well as investing $100 million in stolen 1MDB funds for the production of DiCaprio’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, prosecutors say.
DiCaprio, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, is listed as a potential government witness in the federal criminal trial of former Fugees rapper Prakazrel ‘Pras’ Michel, set for later this month.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio with Jho Low (right) attend The Wolf of Wall Street world premier in 2013. Low financed the film with $100 million in embezzled funds, prosecutors say
DiCaprio met with an FBI agent and federal prosecutors in April 2018 to discuss his relationship with Jho Low, according to an FBI summary of the interview
Michel is charged with of conspiring with Low to steer illegal foreign campaign funds into Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, and the leaked FBI interview report offers a glimpse of DiCaprio’s potential court testimony.
It also offers a rare glimpse inside the relationship between DiCaprio and Low prior to the international financier’s downfall.
DiCaprio told the FBI that he first met Low at a New York nightclub, through an introduction from a friend who told him the financier was interested in getting into the movie business.
DiCaprio said Low wooed him with ‘outlandish parties’ in Las Vegas, which he attended because it is ‘part of the Hollywood business culture.’
‘At first, DiCaprio did not know much about Low except he was from Malaysia, had lots of money, and he wanted to get into the movie industry,’ the leaked interview summary states.
‘DiCaprio was most intrigued by Low’s parties, which involved performances by famous musicians, including Usher and Jamie Foxx,’ it added.
Low also donated valuable artworks worth millions to DiCaprio’s foundation to be auctioned off for charity.
Low also gave Marlon Brando’s Oscar statue to DiCaprio, which, along with the artwork, the actor later forfeited under a government order seizing all of Low’s property in the US.
DiCaprio, seen in Wolf of Wall Street said Low wooed him with ‘outlandish parties’ in Las Vegas, which he attended because it is ‘part of the Hollywood business culture’
DiCaprio became unwittingly wrapped up in money laundering and embezzling scheme when Michel allegedly used illegal funds to helped produce the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street
When Low proposed funding The Wolf of Wall Street, he claimed the funds came from the ‘whale of whales’ in Abu Dhabi, but DiCaprio said he never knew who the supposed whale was.
DiCaprio described joining Low to attend the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he stayed on a ‘massive yacht’ that Low said he had rented.
According to DiCaprio, record producer Kasseem Daoud Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, was ‘constantly hanging around’ Low, who gave Dean and his wife Alicia Keys art and cars.
Dean and Low even had ‘matching Lamborghinis’ according to the interview.
The FBI pressed DiCaprio on when he first became suspicious of Low, and the actor said he did not have serious concerns until press reports in 2015 began to implicate the financier in potential serious wrongdoing.
‘DiCaprio lives in a world of rumors,’ they recounted, ‘so he did not take any of them seriously until the main negative news stories about Low came out and his team told him it was now serious.’
DiCaprio also told the FBI that he had heard Low discussing giving some $20-$30 million to then-President Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.
‘Low said he had orchestrated a massive donation to Obama. Low used the term ‘we,’ as in ‘we’re giving’ money to Obama. He was a big supporter of Obama,’ the interview summary states.
Jho Low, 40, is a Malaysian businessman turned fugitive who allegedly embezzled billions from the Malaysian state-run economic development fund 1Malaysia Development Berhard, commonly known as 1MDB
Michel, 49, a rapper known for his involvement in the hip hop group Fugees, was tied to conman billion-dollar conman Jho Low
DiCaprio also told the FBI that he had heard Low discussing giving some $20-$30 million to then-President Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012
Low is not a US citizen, and foreign nationals are prohibited from contributing to US federal election campaigns.
The alleged illegal campaign donations are at the heart of the federal criminal case against the former Fugees rapper Pras Michel, who is a US citizen.
According to prosecutors, between June 2012 and November 2012, Low directed the transfer of approximately $21.6 million from foreign entities and accounts to Michel to be funneled into the US election while disguising it as legitimate campaign contributions.
Michel and Low, the Justice Department alleged, conspired to circumvent the law, in part by steering foreign money from Low through ‘straw contributors’ who purported to make legal contributions in their own names.
In doing so, the indictment said they hoped they could ‘buy access to, and potentially influence with a candidate, the candidate’s campaign and the candidate’s administration.’
Michel has pleaded not guilty. Low, through spokespersons, also insists he is innocent in the campaign finance scheme.
