In 2016, the U.S. Department Of Justice filed a series of lawsuits against Malaysian officials, claiming that they misappropriated more than $3.5 billion originally intended for 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a Malaysian economic fund. This money was allegedly used to buy a ton of expensive goods, including paintings, property in New York, luxury hotels, and to support a production company called Red Granite run by the stepson of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. With that money, Red Granite helped finance a number of Hollywood properties, including The Wolf Of Wall Street—a movie that’s all about this sort of financial finagling.
According to Variety, the U.S. government has now ordered Red Granite to forfeit $60 million in order to “resolve allegations” that it profited from the Malaysian scandal. It has about a year to pay up, with the first $30 million already due within 30 days. Variety says Red Granite also used the allegedly illicit funds to pay for Daddy’s Home, and Paramount Pictures has agreed to hold back from giving Red Granite any profits it made from that movie, with that money going into a government-controlled account until Red Granite starts making its forfeiture payments.
Variety says that Wolf Of Wall Street star Leonardo DiCaprio has also been roped into this, with the government asking him to surrender a number of gifts that were allegedly bought for him with this stolen money, including “three artworks” and one of Marlon Brando’s Oscars (the one for On The Waterfront, as the Academy supposedly kept his declined Godfather Oscar). DiCaprio, for the record, has not been accused of doing anything wrong.