That Wolf of Wall Street-related corruption case you may have read a thing or three about has now resulted in the arrest of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
The arrest, made in connection with the investigation of a massive corruption scandal, was carried out last week by anti-corruption task force officials. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Razak is accused of using his 1MDB sovereign wealth fund as a "personal piggy bank" to pump money into the development of Red Granite Pictures, among other, more Wolf of Wall Street-y things. Red Granite, of course, is one of the production companies behind Martin Scorsese's Leonardo DiCaprio-starring classic.
As for other alleged 1MDB-related activities, Razak is also accused of involvement with the use of "billions" of dollars from the fund for luxury homes, yachts, jewelry, and more. Early Tuesday, Razak shared an audio message on Twitter disputing some of the allegations. "Let investigations be carried out," he said. "I have not had a chance to defend myself." Razak is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday morning.
The "former prime minister" distinction here is particularly notable, as the longtime country leader recently—to many analysts' surprise—lost an election to Mahathir Mohamad. Prior to the loss, the Razak-controlled government allegedly made investigations into 1MDB extremely difficult. Per Reuters, the fund is alleged to have laundered close to $4.5 billion through an assortment of companies.
Hopefully, Scorsese is watching all of this unfold very carefully so he can quickly dive into a very meta Wolf sequel.
