‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Proceeds Tangled in Malaysian Fraud Case Under Department of Justice Investigation
“The Wolf of Wall Street’s” strange legal saga continues today with the news that the United States Department of Justice intends to seize more than $1 billion from a Malaysian investment fund, which includes proceeds from Martin Scorsese’s financial period piece. The agency claims that the film was funded in part by 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB), which is said to have been linked to the production company Red Granite Pictures and is the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI.
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Per the Wall Street Journal, “funds that originated with 1MDB made their way into real estate in New York City and Los Angeles worth tens of millions of dollars and the funding of the 2013 film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.” In a statement, Red Granite said that, “to Red Granite’s knowledge, none of the funding it received four years ago was in any way illegitimate and there is nothing in today’s civil lawsuit claiming that Red Granite knew otherwise.”
“Red Granite does not expect the lawsuit — which is limited to future proceeds generated by a single film, and which was not filed against Red Granite or any of its employees — to impact its day to day operations, and the company continues to move forward with exciting new projects.” WSJ has the full story.
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