1MDB scandal: Najib Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz sued by ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ for US$300 million
- Riza was CEO of Red Granite Pictures, which bought the rights to Belfort’s memoirs and its sequel allegedly using funds siphoned from 1MDB
- In his suit, Belfort claims he was deceived about the source of the funds and the scandal engulfing 1MDB has curtailed his ability to profit further
In the 1990s, Jordan Belfort’s “pump and dump” scam earned him millions of dollars and 22 months in jail after being convicted of securities fraud. His extravagant rise and fall was depicted in The Wolf of Wall Street, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.
In his suit, filed in Los Angeles on Thursday, the former stockbroker claims the scandal engulfing 1MDB has curtailed his ability to profit further from the rights to his story, Variety reported. The suit claims Belfort believed Riza when he claimed the funding for came from wealthy private investors and Goldman Sachs.
“Belfort was completely blindsided to learn, after the fact, of the source of funding for Red Granite and the film based on his book/ story, as defendants concealed these criminal acts and funding sources from him, ” the suit states. “Had he known he certainly never would have sold the rights.”
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) alleges US$4.5 billion was siphoned from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014 and laundered in multiple jurisdictions including Singapore, the US and Switzerland.