From left: 80 Columbus Circle, Jho Low, and 118 Greene Street (Credit: Getty Images)
A U.S. forfeiture lawsuit is targeting two luxury New York City condos owned by Jho Low, a Malaysian financier who was allegedly the mastermind behind a $4.5 billion dollar scam involving the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. On Wednesday, U.S. lawyers and lawyers for Low asked a federal judge in Los Angeles to allow them to list two of Low’s trophy properties, a Time Warner Center penthouse at 80 Columbus Circle that he bought for $30 million in 2011, and a condo at 118 Greene Street he bought for $14 million in 2014.
Low was accused of diverting the money from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and using it to buy properties in California and New York, a $250 million yacht and jewelry for Low’s onetime sweetheart, actress and model Miranda Kerr.
The sale of the luxury condos is the latest development in the effort to recover the lost funds, Bloomberg reported. The yacht was seized off the coast of Indonesia in 2018 and sold to Genting Malaysia Bhd., a global casino, resorts and cruise lines conglomerate, for $126 million.
“Mr. Low is aware of two further successfully negotiated agreements with the U.S. government,” a Low representative said to Bloomberg in a statement. “This continued ongoing collaboration is crucial in order to protect both the value of the assets and the parties’ legal rights.”
Earlier this month, U.S. authorities listed Low’s mansion in L.A.’s exclusive Bird Streets neighborhood, which Low had bought for $39 million. [Bloomberg] — Georgia Kromrei