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INTEL
PIG BUTCHERING: now the #1 loss category in the US by estimated volume / HUSHPUPPI: the Instagram that became the evidence -- Case 001 open / BEC: one spoofed email, one wire, seven figures -- see the methodology / ROSS ULBRICHT: full pardon January 21 2025 after 11+ years -- Case 013 open / ALL FIGURES LABELED: estimate vs conviction vs market collapse -- see Methodology / UNODC 2023: $5.4B estimated annually from SE Asia pig-butchering compounds [UNVERIFIED] / PIG BUTCHERING: now the #1 loss category in the US by estimated volume / HUSHPUPPI: the Instagram that became the evidence -- Case 001 open / BEC: one spoofed email, one wire, seven figures -- see the methodology / ROSS ULBRICHT: full pardon January 21 2025 after 11+ years -- Case 013 open / ALL FIGURES LABELED: estimate vs conviction vs market collapse -- see Methodology / UNODC 2023: $5.4B estimated annually from SE Asia pig-butchering compounds [UNVERIFIED]
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COMPANY · FUND

1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad)

🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia · FOUNDED 2009
THE FIGURE
$4.5B
Alleged theft from 1MDB per the DOJ's civil forfeiture complaints; Jho Low has never been tried.
WHAT IT SAID IT WAS

A Malaysian state investment fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to drive development through energy and property deals.

WHAT IT REALLY WAS

The vehicle for what the DOJ called the largest kleptocracy case ever: about $4.5B was allegedly siphoned through shell companies to buy yachts, art, property and a film, with Jho Low as the alleged mastermind (never tried).

THE STORY

1MDB was created in 2009 as a sovereign development fund chaired in effect by Prime Minister Najib Razak, and raised billions through Goldman Sachs bond deals. US prosecutors say that from 2009 to 2014 about $4.5 billion was diverted through shell companies by Jho Low and associates and spent on Manhattan penthouses, a superyacht, art and the film The Wolf of Wall Street. The fund stopped operating in 2015, its debts fell on the state, and Najib's government fell in 2018; he was convicted in 2020. Goldman Sachs paid over $6 billion in settlements, the DOJ has returned more than $1.4 billion, and Low remains a fugitive.

WHO RAN IT
Jho Low ▸
unofficial adviser; alleged mastermind (fugitive) · open the case file
Najib Razak
prime minister and chairman of 1MDB's advisory board — convicted on 7 counts July 2020; 12-year sentence halved to 6 by pardons board (2024)
Roger Ng
Goldman Sachs banker — convicted in Brooklyn April 2022; 10 years
Tim Leissner
Goldman Sachs partner — pleaded guilty 2018; cooperated; 2 years (May 2025)
WHO WAS HURT
the Malaysian public1MDB bondholders
HOW IT ENDED
Founded
2009
Based
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ended
2015
How
liquidated — operations wound down from 2015; debts absorbed by the state; in liquidation and pursuing recoveries

DOJ civil forfeiture actions from July 2016 have returned more than $1.4B to Malaysia (as of 2024), including the yacht Equanimity and Red Granite's $60M film settlement. Goldman Sachs paid Malaysia $3.9B (July 2020) and $2.9B to US and other regulators (October 2020). Najib Razak was convicted on seven counts (July 2020) and jailed. 1MDB's liquidators filed a $1B claim against Amicorp in December 2024.

SOURCES
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad_scandalcnn.com/2020/07/24/investing/goldman-sachs-1mdb-malaysia/index.htmlirs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/justice-department-repatriat
Facts as published in court records, regulator releases and the sources above. Anyone charged and not convicted is alleged only.
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