Mysterious Chinese Jho Low: How did the real-life version of "Gatsby" steal 30 billion from the Malay treasury?
In the movie "The Great Gatsby", Gatsby, more deeply than ever before, feels how wealth can give people the charm and mystery of youth, feels how the brocade dress makes people stay fresh and bright, and realizes that Daisy, who shines like silver, is standing on top of the desperate struggle of the poor to survive.
And my personal translation is: wealth can be psychic, and it is good to have money.
These simple and crude eight words may also be the life creed of today's protagonist. Or rather, he's always been called a real-life version of Gatsby.
Although the two people have different nationalities and different races, they are not even one dimension. But cleverly, it is the same as getting rich overnight through illegal means, the same luxury of life, and the same pursuit of women.
Even more coincidentally, Leonardo played the film version of Gatsby, and his other film, The Wolf of Wall Street, was invested by today's protagonist.
This man was none other than Malaysian Chinese, Jho Low.
Around him, in addition to the live-action version of Gatsby, there are titles such as Dama and Yan, the protagonist of the Ichima case. So, what exactly did he do that led to being wanted by 4 countries (Malaysia, New Zealand, Great Britain, the United States) and remain unharmed? And how did you steal the rumored three billion from a country's treasury? What are the forces behind him?
First, three generations of rich armor, long-sleeved good dance
It all started in the 1940s, when countless people fled their homes or even crossed the ocean due to the war. One of them, a Teochew man named Liu Mingda, also followed this wave. He settled first in Thailand and then in Malaysia, that is, Malaysia.
Perhaps it is the influence of the Teochew people, that is, the marine personality traits that dare to fight in the Chaozhou culture, through investment in iron ore, Liu Mingda quickly saved the first pot of gold. And established a family, became a small local famous rich man, the rich generation.
Later, he had a son named Liu Fuping and was sent to the London School of Economics to study. However, Liu Fuping does not seem to have inherited his father's strength, at least the high education does not seem to be very easy to use, please remember this sentence, the later to be tested.
Back to the main topic, the rich second generation Liu Fuping almost lost his family property in the 80s because of investment failures, fortunately, caught up with the 90s Malaysian stock market take-off, just as Lei Jun said, standing on the wind outlet, pigs can fly. Not to mention that it is a rich family that already has small savings.
Therefore, liu Fuping, the second generation of the rich, not only got rid of the shadow of investment failure, but even successfully pulled the family assets and magnitude up a notch. Satisfied, he began to actively socialize, mixing with various wealthy clubs such as Penang Club and constantly expanding his business territory.
The financial industry, connections, and insider information have become Liu Fuping's wealth code.
In this case, the three generations of the rich, that is, Jho Low, were finally born. And in "Mencius Leaving Lou Xia", it is mentioned that the gentleman's Ze, the fifth and the beheading. Some people say more directly that the three worlds have declined. That is to say, as the saying goes, there are only three generations of wealth.
Indeed, it is difficult to start a business, and it is even more difficult to keep a job. Especially after entering 2000, the iteration of the industry, the vagaries of the financial situation, the impact of a series of historical tides such as economic globalization, all mean that family inheritance will face more severe challenges.
Therefore, Jho Low, a rich third generation, is bound to master the rudder of the family for the next hundred years. Of course, no one expected that he could make such a big battle.
Jho Low
At the age of 16, Jho Low was sent by his father to Harrow College, britain's most prestigious school. As the oldest private school, his alumni include Churchill, the King of Jordan, the Founding Father of India Nehru and others.
However, remember the wealth code of his father in the third generation of the rich? That is, the financial industry, connections, insider information.
Under the influence of this family style, Low Tezo did not care at all about the quality of his reading performance, on the contrary, he who was good at dancing with long sleeves regarded it as a compulsory course after getting acquainted with famous people, and it can be said that he had achieved full marks.
He once described his code of wealth as meeting the right people in the right place and at the right time and building relationships of mutual trust.
How good is Jho Low's long-sleeved dance? To meet the most powerful descendants of these worlds. The first is to create a persona, blind flattery is definitely not enough, licking the final probability is also to be treated as a horse boy.
However, although he is already three generations rich, he is basically in Malaysia, and he is not rich enough to be the second generation of these celebrities. What if someone else doesn't bring their own to play?
So, in a clever move, he not only made up the identity of a Malaysian prince for himself, but also did not skimp on money, crazy extravagance, before inviting his classmates to Malaysia for a vacation, he first went to a rich friend to borrow a luxury cruise ship of more than 160 feet and a super mansion. He also deliberately replaced the photo of the original owner of the house with his family portrait, and after the summer vacation, he was also a super-rich person. Of course, Liu Fuping is very supportive of his son's behavior, and even regularly sends him money to make social funds.
Like Gatsby in the book, he was vague about the source of his vast wealth for the simple reason that he was not actually justified, and on January 2, 1920, the Wolster Act in the United States, commonly known as Prohibition, went into effect. A one-size-fits-all, hard-line crackdown has led to a flood of bootleg liquor. And when Gatsby was questioned many times, he always mentioned pharmacies. In fact, it refers to the sale of private liquor, because the alcohol that can be legally sold on the surface at that time is medical alcohol.
After becoming rich, Gatsby also established himself as a rich man through all-night revelry, brightly lit luxury villas, and unlimited spirits, and joined the social circle of high society, but also only to attract the attention of his dream lover, Daisy.
And back to the main topic, rich people have it, and people with power and energy must also have it, otherwise they are likely to be regarded as upstarts or wronged heads.
So, once when he made a bet with his classmates, he got the letterhead of the Brunei Embassy, and by forging the letter, he successfully kept the table for the Brunei royal family to the west end nightclub in London.
After this battle, Jho Low became a guest of honor to the Royal Family of the Middle East and the Royal Family of Brunei. Most importantly, he recognized a heavyweight, the stepson of former Malaysian speaker Najib Aduraza, Riza Aziz.
Riza Aziz
Second, how to hollow out a national treasury?
As mentioned earlier, after Gatsby became rich, in order to attract Daisy's attention, he began a vigorous road to money. But I have to say that if it were not for the sudden wealth of selling bootleg liquor, it would be difficult for Gatsby not to be distressed about the huge amount of money that disappeared like water.
For Jho Low, in order to satisfy his own personality, it is too easy to obtain money. He also began a more extravagant pace of life.
But before we look back at his path to burning money, we need to know where his money came from. Remember Riza Aziz, in 2009, his father, although he was a stepfather, became a Malaysian speaker? It also took over the sovereign wealth fund, which mainly played the role of attracting foreign investment in Malaysia.
Of course, if you think about it, it has been diverted to the wrong place. That is, a personal wallet. In addition to Jho Low and his good friend Riza, he had to bring in another friend, Otaba.
Orteba
Who is Otaba? He was a personal advisor to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates at the time. The main responsibility is the foreign liaison area. After meeting Jho Low, under his wild operation and touting, through Theraba, Jho Low and Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund, the Mubadala Development Fund, were connected.
This sovereign fund and malaysia's sovereign fund are also designed to attract investment and change the situation where money is mainly made from oil. Mainly real estate and semiconductors.
Then the riot operation began, when another Malaysian sovereign fund invested in a project called the Iskandar Development Zone, in which Jho Low successfully brokered the introduction of the aforementioned Mubadala Development Fund to the Malaysian side. At the same time, through offshore companies, leather bag companies and other means, money was sent to The Malaysian speaker Riza and his mother.
Naturally, Jho Low can be described as a smooth step in Malaysia, and the mother of the good brother Riza even publicly expressed her gratitude to him in a speech at the dinner. The relationship between the prince and the empress dowager is open, so I ask who else is there?
So in 2009, Jho Low, a former in the past, successfully served as an informal advisor to a new Malaysian sovereign fund, 1MDB, through connections such as Riza and others. This is commonly known as the one-horse case.
As for how Jho Low used 1MDB to make profits for the good buddy Riza and his family, it will no longer be carried out one by one here, there is nothing new under the sun, nothing more than washing around, all kinds of leather bag companies, offshore companies of the old routine. Anyway, everyone is eating a lot of pots and fat.
Mother Riza, Mrs. Najib
In short, with a national treasury behind it, what is a rich country that can be opposed? This is the real rich enemy country. The money comes so fast, and I have a cordial relationship with the highest family, I don't inflate who Swells?
In addition, extravagant consumption can also stabilize their mysterious aura and super-rich personality. This attracts more investment loans and resources. Therefore, Jho Low's road to burning money began.
Three, crazy Gatsby
Let's start with a set of data, from October 2009 to June 2010, what can you do in 8 months? The answer Jho Low handed over was to burn $85 million. That's equivalent to RMB 540 million, which means you need to spend RMB 60 million a month. You have to spend it for 8 consecutive months, but if you stop for a day in the middle, or spend less than the amount, you can't spend the five hundred million.
His consumption details mainly include these items: famous wine, gambling, private jets, superyachts, and the consumption of the top 20 beauties of Playboy and a bunch of Hollywood stars.
The details are spent like this: He rents a $100,000 apartment a month in New York, and a team of well-trained elite bodyguards is on standby. At that time, reports showed that during a New York Fashion Week, his nightclub consumption reached 160,000 US dollars, equivalent to more than 1 million yuan, which Wang Sicong had a corresponding record.
In addition, at the table, he had lost 2 million in just ten minutes, but he still looked calm. At the 28th birthday party, it was held for a few days at caesar's palace in Las Vegas, and lions and tigers even appeared on the scene to help.
One of his friends, in an interview with the media, described Jho Low as follows: He's the person I've ever seen spending the most money in my life, and when you're having lunch at a restaurant in London, he'll ask who wants to go to New York for dinner, then rent a plane, and when you react, you've had the best wine and dinner in Manhattan, New York. He can do anything.
Or in 2009, his ex-girlfriend, Hollywood actress Lindsay Rohan, on her 23rd birthday, gave 23 bottles of French wine at one time, a bottle of 50,000 US dollars, 320,000 yuan, that is, a total of more than 7.3 million yuan.
In 2010, Jho Low mixed with american celebrities, the Hilton Hotel Thousand Gold Parris Hilton, in order to chase her, more than two million dollars to hold a birthday party, sprayed 17.8 million US dollars of champagne, pay attention, spray play, not drink.
Then, Jho Low set his sights on Xiao Yaxuan, bought newspaper headlines to show love and propose, chartered the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, used a helicopter to transport Chopard's large diamond ring, played songs by a top orchestra on the spot, and a romantic fireworks show. Burned out about 30 million yuan. Of course, Xiao Yaxuan ignored him, and it seemed that the small fresh meat was more fragrant.
In the New Year of 2013, Jho Low rented a Boeing 747 carrying 40 celebrity friends and Playboy Top 20 Bunny Girls, first flew to Australia, played for a few days, gambled wildly for a few days, and then continued to fly for 15 hours to Las Vegas after the New Year, and another New Year.
In Las Vegas, there was a more luxurious party. Stars who appear include Leonardo, Wolf of Wall Street director Martin Scorsese, Godfather 2's Robert De Niro, rescued Djangori Jamie Fox, and many more, as well as Kanye and Kardashian, and even Olympic champion Phelps.
At the same time, it also includes sending 52.4 million yuan of jewelry to Miranda Kerr within 9 months, sending Leonardo two paintings of Picasso, and so on.
Fourth, the East Window incident
Of course, flowers are not red. Such a high-profile act, like Gatsby, did attract Daisy, but in the end could not escape the sad end of being killed. The only difference is that Jho Low survived.
Behind the high-profile money-burning behavior, it is naturally accompanied by the large amount of misappropriation of funds by the aforementioned 1MDB. In 2012 and 2013, Goldman Sachs issued bonds for 1MDB, collecting a full 600 million handling fees, far higher than the conventional standard.
Coupled with Jho Low's extravagant behavior, there were some rumors at the beginning, but in 2013, Riza's stepfather continued to be the talker, and the matter was suppressed. However, the paper package could not hold the fire, and Riza's stepfather did not continue to be a speaker in 2018.
Subsequently, the bribery case broke out, and everyone now found out that in 2016, the 1MDB fund had owed $13 billion. Jho Low was accused of embezzling $1.17 billion, while The Hollywood Reporter said it had embezzled at least NT$31.4 billion. Subsequently, the four countries joined forces to arrest the people, and Liu Tezo directly evaporated in the human world, and it was rumored that he fled to the treasure island of Taiwan.
However, in 2019, the United States suddenly and comprehensively and permanently dropped all charges against Jho Low. What is the meaning of this, or you have to look at the officials and understand it for yourself.
As the saying goes, the thief of the hook is cursed, and the thief of the country is the prince.