KUALA LUMPUR: Celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio and Kim Kardashian were interrogated by the United States' Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) over the embezzlement of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds.
According to a Bloomberg Businessweek report today, DiCaprio in April 2018, told agents about his relationship with businessman, Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, that started in a nightclub.
The actor said he was told that Jho Low's money came from an unknown 'whale of whales' in Abu Dhabi and that Jho Low was a 'Mozart of the business world'.
The report said Jho Low's relationship with DiCaprio and other celebrities came under the spotlight again as prosecutors prepared for the trial involving Fugees hip-hop group member Prakazrel 'Pras' Michél.
Michél was accused of directing foreign money into the campaign of former US President Barack Obama and lobbying on behalf of Jho Low and the Chinese government.
Among Michél's list of potential witnesses are DiCaprio, Obama, former US president Donald Trump and hotelier Steve Wynn.
Previously undisclosed FBI documents reviewed by Bloomberg Businessweek offered a more detailed account of the deals and showed how federal agents grilled celebrities and their handlers to obtain information about Jho Low.
Kardashian, for example, in February 2019 told the FBI she had met Jho Low and partied with the businessman in Las Vegas. Jho Low gave her then-fiancé, Kris Humphries, US$100,000 (RM447,550) for fireworks at their wedding in 2011.
A few years later, he offered Kardashian a Basquiat, prompting her then-husband, Kanye West, to ask for a Monet, the agent wrote.
Bloomberg Businessweek reported that it tried to contact those mentioned but their representatives either didn't respond or declined to comment.
The report added that Kardashian also recounted an unusual money transfer.
According to an FBI interview summary, she and others including Wolf of Wall Street co-producers Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland were at a casino in Las Vegas with Jho Low.
At 5am, Kardashian was ready to leave, but a friend told her to stick around, because he'd "heard stories of Low giving people chips at the end of the night."
