In a somewhat meta turn of events, the producers of The Wolf of Wall Street will be paying the U.S. government $60 million following allegations that the movie was financed with stolen funds, the Guardianreports.
The money in question was part of the $3.5 billion that mysteriously found its way from a Malaysian state investment fund and into the accounts of associates of the Malaysian prime minister. Red Granite Pictures, which helped finance the Scorsese film, was co-founded by one of the associate’s stepsons, and implicated in the scandal, finding itself at the wrong end of a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice. Allegedly, the stolen cash was also used to fund films Dumb and Dumber To and Daddy’s Home.
Despite the fact that the production company continues to deny any wrongdoing, it has agreed to pay the US government $60 million in a series of installments over the next 12 months. Red Granite shelled out $100 million to help finance The Wolf of Wall Street. The company also gifted the film’s star, Leonardo DiCaprio, with Marlon Brando’s Oscar for best actor in On the Waterfront,which is worth somewhere to the tune of $600,000. DiCaprio has since given back the gift as part of the investigation. The misappropriated funds were spent on a variety of lavish expenses, including fine art and a 300-foot yacht. The U.S. government is pursuing the case and are seeking to recover $1.7 billion worth of property.
