Malaysian fugitive Jho Low seeks Trump pardon in 1MDB case

[NEW YORK] Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian financier accused by the US of being the mastermind of one of the largest financial frauds in history, has asked US President Donald Trump for a pardon.

Low, who was charged in 2018 but has evaded arrest, submitted a pardon application to the US Justice Department (DOJ) this year, according to a notice on the DOJ’s website. He’s accused of being the architect of a scheme that syphoned at least US$4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.

Federal prosecutors allege Low, with the help of two former Goldman Sachs bankers, paid about US$2 billion in bribes to foreign officials, including former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who ended up in prison. Another US$1 billion in kickbacks went to the scheme’s participants, with Low pocketing at least US$1.42 billion, US officials alleged.

According to the DOJ website, the request for “Taek Jho Low” seeks a “Pardon after Completion of Sentence”. The status of his request was “pending”. No other details were available. A spokesperson for the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the 1MDB case, did not immediately return an e-mail and voicemail seeking comment.

The 1MDB fraud toppled the Malaysian government, prompted multiple criminal prosecutions and led Goldman to pay more than US$5 billion to settle misconduct claims tied to the convicted bankers. One of the Goldman bankers, Tim Leissner, pleaded guilty and testified at the 2022 trial of former colleague Roger Ng, who was later convicted.

Leissner told jurors that Low assured him that Trump, who was president at the time, was directly involved in talks to end the US criminal probe of the 1MDB fraud. Leissner also said that Low told him he’d discussed the matter with Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser at the time, and had support for a deal in which Low and Leissner would avoid criminal charges over their dealings with 1MDB.

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Leissner also requested a pardon last year. He was ordered to begin serving a two-year prison term for his role in the fraud in February.

A lawyer for Low did not immediately return a voicemail and e-mail seeking comment about the request. BLOOMBERG