Oscar-winning film actor Leonardo DiCaprio told a Washington jury that a Malaysian financier disclosed plans to donate up to £24 million to then-US president Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign in what prosecutors allege was part of an illegal foreign influence operation.

Edited by| Christian Megan

world   section -  CJ journalist

World – April,4,2023

     DiCaprio was testifying in a trial involving international money laundering, bribery, and prominent rap artist Prakazrel “Pras” Michel – a founding member of the iconic 1990s hip-hop group, The Fugees.

Michel is accused of funneling money from Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian financier, through straw donors to Mr. Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and later tried to influence the Trump administration to drop a criminal case against Mr. Low.

The Justice Department alleged that in exchange, the rapper pocketed nearly $100m.

DiCaprio has been asked by the court to testify about his links to Mr. Low. The actor himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

“It was a casual conversation about what party he was in support of,” Mr. DiCaprio said, telling jurors that Mr. Low said he planned on giving “a significant donation” to the Democratic Party that was “somewhere to the tune of £16 million to £24 million”.

“I basically said, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of money,’“ the Titanic star revealed as he took to the witness stand.

The Fugees' Michel, prosecutors allege, secretly transferred that money from Mr. Low to then-president Mr. Obama's 2012 re-election campaign via shell companies, hiding the donations' origins.

Mr. Michel has pleaded not guilty to charges of using foreign money to make illegal campaign contributions, witness tampering, and also failing to register as a foreign agent of the Chinese government.

DiCaprio, the 48-year-old star of multiple Hollywood blockbusters, is one of several prominent figures linked to Mr. Low, now a fugitive who is facing separate federal criminal charges for allegedly embezzling £3.6 billion from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

According to the US Justice Department, Mr. Low spent billions on property, art, and a yacht as well as investing in films including "The Wolf of Wall Street,” the 2013 movie in which DiCaprio starred and was nominated for an Oscar.

DiCaprio told the jury in Washington DC that investors were vetted and that he understood that Mr. Low was seen as a "prodigy" in the business world.

"I was given a green light by my team as well as the studios to accept Mr. Low's funding," DiCaprio said. "That means that the background check was fine and that he was seen as a legitimate businessperson."

He has been cooperating with the US government since the Justice Department in 2018 reached a civil settlement with the film’s production company, which forfeited £48 million that was believed to have been stolen from Malaysian government fund 1MDB.

The actor said he first met Mr. Low at a Las Vegas party in around 2010.

Mr. Low threw a "multitude of lavish parties with many different people from all over the world" on boats and at nightclubs, often with celebrities in attendance - sometimes including Mr. Michel, he said.

Mr. Low regularly invited DiCaprio to parties including one on New Year's Eve in which revelers were flown by private jet from Australia to the US to see the clocks strike midnight twice.

The actor also accepted gifts from Mr. Low for his environmental foundation.

But in 2015, Mr. Di Caprio told the court, he severed ties after suspicions arose surrounding Mr. Low's connections with the disappearance of substantial sums from the sovereign wealth fund's accounts.

The case continues.

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