AN global human rights NGO has called on Oscar-winning actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio to return funds that his foundation allegedly received from individuals and companies linked to a Malaysian state-owned company embroiled in a multi-billion dollar graft scandal.
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The Justice Department is now investigating the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation because it says that donations to his environmental charity are directly linked to IMDB – a wealth fund owned by the Malaysian government that is the subject of a Justice Department asset seizure complaint after the funds were reportedly “misappropriated”.
The Justice Department alleges that this money not only financed The Wolf of Wall Street but also the actor’s gambling: in 2012, the actor and several others involved in the embezzlement scandal withdrew $1.15 million from a 1MDB account for a weekend in Los Vegas.
The Bruno Manser Fund believes that DiCaprio received “millions of dollars in payments” for his cast in “The Wolf of Wall Street” as well as in donations for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
More than .5 billion in funds belonging to 1MDB was allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates. However, according to USA authorities, US$3.5 billion of that money was “misappropriated” between 2009 and 2015.
Low is said to have helped the LDF by buying marked-up champagne bottles at the actor’s birthday party in 2013 and paying $1.1million (NZ$1.52 million) for art at an LDF-funding Christie’s auction.
He’s also said to have donated a Lichtenstein sculpture worth US$700,000 to the LDF for another auction.
The A-list actor is not named in the 136-page complaint, but is simply referred to as “Hollywood Actor 1”, the Telegraph reports.
DiCaprio also skipped a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton due to a scheduling conflict, but questions were raised as to whether it had to do with the Malaysian scandal.
U.S. media speculated his withdrawal was to avoid Mrs Clinton’s embarrassment over the embezzlement case.
The Hollywood turn in the scandal has led the rainforest charity active in Malaysian Borneo, The Bruno Manser Funds to send an open letter to DiCaprio calling on him to return money he received connected to the 1MDB. As founder of his environmental charity and a designated UN Messenger of Peace, DiCaprio’s responsibility is to help stop corruption, the organization said.
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“This is a disgrace and in total contradiction with the declared aims of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation”, said Bruno Manser Fund’s executive director Lukas Straumann.
