Shops threatened with legal action over book about fugitive Malaysian businessman Jho Low
Free speech campaigners say letters sent to booksellers are attempt to ‘short-circuit legal process’
London-based libel lawyers representing a playboy financier have sent threatening letters to bookshops around the world in an attempt to block distribution of a new book detailing his alleged involvement in one of the biggest financial scandals in history.
Free speech campaigners said the decision to threaten a book’s distributors rather than the publisher or author could be seen as an attempt to “short-circuit the legal process” around libel law and risks setting a precedent that would intimidate booksellers.
The book – Billion Dollar Whale by The Wall Street Journal reporters Bradley Hope and Tom Wright – describes how the Malaysian financier Jho Low is accused by the US government of masterminding the theft of billions of dollars from the Malaysian state-owned investment fund 1MDB, which was sent to bank accounts in Switzerland, Singapore and the Virgin Islands.
It has been widely reported that Low, 36, is facing money-laundering charges in absentia in Malaysia and is the subject of an Interpol red notice.
Low insists he has not broken any laws, is not guilty of any fraud and is not being investigated. His lawyers say that the allegations in the book are defamatory and wholly untrue.
Billion Dollar Whale has received positive reviews in the US, where it is released next week. It alleges that Low gained the trust of the prime minister of Malaysia by befriending his son, evaded major Wall Street banks to siphon off funds from the investment organisation and used the money to live a life of excessive partying with celebrities and buy expensive property. Low has always maintained that his wealth was family inheritance.