As Pras Michel’s international money laundering trial gets started, the prosecution begins its case with a bombshell witness. They bring to the stand Academy Award-winning actor and Hollywood A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio.
DiCaprio, who has a causal relationship with Pras and a working relationship with Jho Low, the Malaysian businessman who is accused of stealing billions of dollars from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, took the stand to testify.
As reported by AllHipHop.com, the 1MDB scandal, which emerged in 2009, revolves around the misappropriation of billions of dollars from the Malaysian state investment fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Jho Low allegedly used his connections with influential figures like Kim Kardashian, Busta Rhymes, Paris Hilton, and many others to launder money (without their knowledge) and sustain a lavish lifestyle.
Pras Michel is accused of collaborating with Low to facilitate the transfer of large sums of money from foreign banks to the United States.
According to CNN, DiCaprio, one of the celebrities Low wooed with his money, said they met in 2010 at a party in Las Vegas and that originally, just kicked it with him during lavish parties he would throw. One of those international “multitude of lavish parties” was a New Year’s Eve celebration.
Low paid for several celebrities to come to Australia to watch the ball drop in that country and then flew them back to Las Vegas to see the ball drop in America (in that time zone).
“Did you make it back in time to celebrate?” Michel’s defense attorney David Kenner asked the witness.
And DiCaprio answered with his usual charisma, “It depends on how you look at it.”
The actor said he was acutely aware that Low knew how to make money, believing him to be some “sort of a prodigy in the business world and ultra-successful.”
And after a couple of years, their relationship started to incorporate more than just flashy parties. Now, they talked money.
In 2012, Low told DiCaprio of his plans to donate $20 million or $30 million into the Democratic party.
He described their initial political conversation as “causal.”
“I told him what party I was in support of and he told me that he, or he and a group, were going to make a significant contribution to the Democratic Party,” the witness said.
Upon hearing the eight-figure drop into the campaign bag, DiCaprio recalled saying, “Wow, that’s a lot of money.”
It is alleged the money stolen from 1MDB is the money he dumped into the presidential campaign.
Another connection is that Low offered to fund DiCaprio’s 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The prosecution contends that unbeknownst to DiCaprio, this money also was stolen from 1MDB and laundered through a movie production company called Red Granite Pictures.
DiCaprio said his people vetted Low and everything seemed legit. He even shouted him out by name during his Golden Globe acceptance speech for the movie.
Things seemed good until 2015 when DiCaprio’s people read an article that alleged Low’s “illegal funding” was “from Malaysia and a multitude of other places.”
Shortly thereafter, in 2016, U.S. prosecutors seized the assets from the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” and a Picasso that was allegedly gifted to DiCaprio by one of Low’s associates.
DiCaprio is currently working to refund all monies donated or gifted to him or his charities by Low.
As for his relationship with Pras, who is standing trial alone because Low is M.I.A., the two acknowledged knowing each other from as far back as the mid-90s.
Pras even waved at him from the courtroom.