Please Consider: It's Time for Jho Low
Why is the GOAT of scamming not on your radar??
Hardly a week out from the FTX implosion and on the day of Elizabeth Holmes’ 11-year prison sentence, it feels like the whole world is talking about doomed millennial billionaires. I guess having a much-discussed Super Bowl ad and being propped up as a wunderkind raises your profile a bit. Who would have thought!? Well, as much as I’m following the minute-by-minute drama of these cases, I’ve been revisiting what is considered “the largest kleptocracy case to date,” according to the Department of Justice: the case of 1Malaysia Development Berhad and the “consultant” Jho Low.
If Sam Bankman-Fried is really on the run to Dubai, he’ll follow in the footsteps of Low, who went on the lam after a reported $3.5 billion misappropriation from 1MDB, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund. Some say the number is closer to $5 billion, which is arguably the most money stolen by an individual ever, not counting Napoleonic war plunder.
Jho Low is a fascinating guy, and beyond almost bankrupting Malaysia by age 35, he partied with Leo and Paris, dated famous models, and, ironically, financed The Wolf of Wall Street. Yet, despite the high profile existence of Low, I feel like most people have no idea about his historical crimes. There is a 2020 Al Jazeera multi-part deep dive with fewer than 1 million views, a pittance in this era. I guess there are a lot of scandals to keep up with, huh??
In fact, I learned about Jho Low while another shocking scandal was raging: one month after the breaking of Operation Varsity Blues, I visited a fabulous estate belonging to a friend’s self-made billionaire father. After allowing me a few minutes of subtle gawking, my friend marched me over to their dad, who was enjoying the epic pool. I had yet to meet dad, but I wasn’t nervous. His kid is pretty humble and driven, considering the circumstances of birth. I figured it was genetic.
Imagine my surprise at how the introduction went:
“Dad, this is Katie, a friend of mine from San Francisco.”
“Hi there, Katie. Do you know [offspring] from [university]?”
“No, we met through friends. I went to USC!”
“So… how much did your parents pay to get you in there?”
Ha ha ha. So very funny and topical, Sir!
I don’t remember my response, but I took it in stride. USC students and grads are used to shrugging off scandal with a smirk. There are too many to keep up with, thanks to decades of institution-wide corruption and coverups. Of note, my degree was signed by the meth-and-hookers Dean of Medicine. I can only laugh, right?
With the tension relieved, billionaire dad decided I was alright. Later, I noticed he was reading Billion Dollar Whale, a detailed breakdown of the 1MDB collapse. We talked a bit about the scandals du jour (Varsity Blues, Theranos), and he said I’d really like reading about this Jho Low guy. Two days later, I downloaded the book before my flight back to SF. I’ve been waiting for 1MDB to go mainstream ever since.
If you are looking for a business drama most delectable, this story truly has it all.
Here’s just a taste: Low spent millions on parties around the world, gifted a crystal piano and millions of dollars of jewels to a Victoria’s Secret Angel, “lent” a Picasso and Basquiat to Leonardo di Caprio, had an unrequited crush on Ivanka Trump, and set up fake Saudi accounts in the Caribbean by posing as his own Saudi sheik friends! The 1MDB scandal touches levels of luxury and prestige Anna “Delvey" could only dream of.
Unfortunately, the book is a bit dry and filled with minute financial details, so a great doc or series will be worth the wait. There is hope this story will get the Hollywood treatment, but maybe not soon. Almost a year ago, it was announced that Michelle Yeoh would be producing a Billion Dollar Whale series, helmed by Beau Willimon of House of Cards, yet I can’t find anything else about it. This March, Deadline broke the news of a documentary on the topic and nothing more.
So, where is the Jho Low love in pop culture!? Where are the Buzzfeed quizzes and listicles? With so much money and such huge names involved, this seems like clickbait heaven. It’s far more rich in narrative than Uber manipulating employment law, Theranos giving the FDA the run-around, and nerds having orgies in the Bahamas.
I suppose there are a few mitigating factors that explain this void of Jho Low information in the public consciousness:
Firstly, the 1MDB cases are an ongoing mess and beyond byzantine (see chart above) due to the many parties and nations involved. Finance media and Southeast Asian press are the primary sources of coverage. Goldman Sachs banker Timothy Leissner — the husband of Kimora Lee Simmons, randomly— may be the only person who will face charges in the US, and his sentencing has been dragging on.
There are a lot of celebs that received money and gifts from Low who surely do not want their names associated with this epic fraud: Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Megan Fox, Miranda Kerr, and Leonardo Di Caprio are just a few. These are big ticket glitterati that outlets may shy away from covering in a negative light in order to protect relationships.
THE MAN HIMSELF IS STILL MISSING! He is possibly being harbored by China, which adds a difficult diplomatic dimension. And, billions of dollars are yet unrecovered. The lack of a perp walk and definitive answers make the updates a bit dry right now.
Alright, I’ll wrap this up since it’s Friday afternoon, and we have Thanksgiving to look forward to! I hope I’ve piqued your interest in the 1MDB scandal, which I find to be an incredible look at the hidden global financial system of tax havens and secret companies, and also the world of pay-for-play celebrity friendships. Do we think Leo checks in on his old friend Jho? I doubt it. Will Elizabeth Holmes get a visit in the clink from Jared Leto? No way. Sam Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, is having his pleas for help mocked by public figures. As all of these bombastic players have discovered, fame is no comfort when everything falls apart.
XOXO
P.S. I will be writing about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos in depth. That story is very important to me as a woman in health tech. Stay tuned!