Here’s How the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Is Connected to a $3 Billion Embezzlement Case
Embattled financier Jho Low allegedly used money from a sovereign fund to buy art and champagne bottles at charity auctions
Matt Pressberg | August 17, 2016 @ 1:27 PM
Last Updated: August 18, 2016 @ 11:39 AM
The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has a financial connection to a $3 billion Malaysian embezzlement scandal currently being investigated by the Justice Department, according to a recent report citing attendees at foundation charity auctions corroborated by the DOJ’s July 20 complaint.
DiCaprio’s personal ties to the figure at the center of the accusations, financier Jho Low, have been known for some time and were further detailed in the complaint, but a report by The Hollywood Reporter provides the first direct link between the star’s charitable foundation — which claims to have given away more than $30 million in grants this year — and the embezzlement investigation.
Low, a gambling and partying buddy of the “Revenant” star, is accused by the DOJ of siphoning off more than $3 billion from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, and treating it essentially like a personal piggy bank, buying increasingly extravagant items and ingratiating himself with Hollywood A-listers.
Red Granite Pictures, a production company founded by two Low associates, Joey McFarland and Riza Aziz — stepson of the Malaysian prime minister, who is also implicated in the scandal — acquired the rights to DiCaprio’s “Wolf of Wall Street,” allegedly financed with ill-gotten 1MDB cash, according to the DOJ complaint. DiCaprio thanked Low, Aziz and McFarland in an acceptance speech at the 2014 Golden Globes.
But now, there appears to be at least one direct link between the alleged scandal and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
The DOJ complaint alleges that an account in the name of Tanore Finance Corp., affiliated with Low, purchased art at an May 13, 2013 “11th hour” charity auction with funds improperly diverted from 1MDB:
At auctions held in New York on or about May 13, 2013, and May 15, 2013, Tanore purchased five works of art for a collective total price of $58,348,750. Specifically, invoices show that at an “11th Hour” Charity Sale on May 13, 2013, Tanore purchased an unnamed work by Mark Ryden for $714,000 (“Ryden work”) and an unnamed work by Ed Ruscha for $367,500 (“Ruscha work”).
A Christie’s press release confirms an “11th Hour” charity auction on that same date, with proceeds benefiting the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. The transactions included art by Ryden and Ruscha.
The Hollywood Reporter story also cites attendees at DiCaprio’s 2013 birthday party who said that Low and McFarland helped raise money for the foundation by buying bottles of champagne, but that could not be independently verified.
Hollywood's Top 10 Art Collectors, From Leonardo DiCaprio to David Geffen (Photos)
Wealth-X has ranked the value of the art collections of some of showbiz world's biggest collectors, click through to see the top 10 in reverse order.
Getty Images
10. Leonardo DiCaprio Estimated value of art collection: $10 million The Oscar winner has picked up works by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Takashi Murakami.
Getty Images
9. Michael Ovitz Estimated value of art collection: $12 million The former agent (and MoMA board member) built a villa in Benedict Canyon to house his acquisitions, which include works by Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko.
Getty Images
8. Jacob Bloom Estimated value of art collection: $14 million The longtime Hollywood attorney and his wife, Ruth, have assembled a remarkable collection that includes works by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, Jeff Koons, John Baldessari and Matthew Barney.
7. Brad Pitt Estimated value of art collection: $25 million The actor spent a reported $1 million on a painting of an auto racetrack by German artist Neo Rauch in 2009.
6. Steve Tisch Estimated value of art collection: $50 million The film producer and chairman of the New York Giants serves a trustee of LACMA, who donated Christian Marclay's "The Clock" to the museum.
Getty Images
5. Jack Nicholson Estimated value of art collection: $150 million The Oscar-winning actor has compiled a collection that includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani, Magritte and Botero.
Getty Images
4. Steven Spielberg Estimated value of art collection: $240 million The director and producer has quietly amassed a collection filled with lots of Norman Rockwell as well as Edward Hopper and many Impressionists.
2. Arnon Milchan Estimated value of art collection: $600 million The producer of "The Revenant" has assembled works by Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon and Vincent Van Gogh that he's spread among his homes in L.A., Paris and Israel.
2. George Lucas Estimated value of art collection: $600 million The "Star Wars" filmmaker, whose personal collection includes works by Norman Rockwell, in 2016 abandoned plans to open the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago.
1. David Geffen Estimated value of art collection: $2.3 billion Geffen's collection is estimated to be worth about a third of his personal net worth, even though he sold even though he sold two significant works – Jackson Pollock’s “Number 5″ and Willem de Kooning’s “Woman III” – in 2006 for $277 million combined.
Getty Images
1 of 11
Wealth-X ranks the value of the art collections of some of showbiz world’s biggest collectors
Wealth-X has ranked the value of the art collections of some of showbiz world's biggest collectors, click through to see the top 10 in reverse order.