Jho Low

Meng Tak had interests in Iron-ore mining and liquor distilleries in Thailand in the 1960s and 1970s, and in real estate in Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

Low's father Tan Sri Larry Low Hock Peng founded investment holding company MWE Holdings.

Low was the youngest of three children.

He attended Chung Ling High School and The International School of Penang (Uplands) before being sent to the elite Harrow School in London.

The school boasts notable alumni, including former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

He took this opportunity to rub shoulders with students from powerful families, including royals from the Middle East and Brunei.

In London, he developed a "close relationship" with Riza Aziz, the stepson of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Low then enrolled in the undergraduate program of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, where he continued to develop connections with Malaysians as well as Kuwaiti and Jordanian interests and began managing money for his friends and family.

Low Taek Jho (born 4 November 1981), often called Jho Low, is a Malaysian businessman and international fugitive, wanted by authorities in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal (1MDB scandal).

He has been named the mastermind of the massive fraud, which prosecutors allege was a scheme to siphon US$4.5 billion from 1MDB into Low's personal accounts.

He is the beneficiary of numerous discretionary trust assets said by the US government to originate from payments out of the Malaysian 1MDB fund.

Low has maintained his innocence and contends that Malaysian authorities are engaging in a campaign of harassment and political persecution due to his prior support of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose part in the 1MDB scandal had led to Najib being convicted on seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

Low was born to a wealthy Malaysian Chinese family.

He is of Teochew descent and he grew up in George Town, on Penang Island.

His family has traditionally maintained a low profile.

His grandfather Tan Sri Dato’ Low Meng Tak was a businessman born in Guangdong in China.

He graduated from Wharton in 2005.

Low can speak Malay, English, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Teochew.

Low's first major deal was the Kuwait Finance House's 2006 purchase for US$87 million of a luxury high-rise apartment building in Kuala Lumpur.

According to The New York Times, "By 2007, Low had formed an investment group that included a Malaysian prince, a Kuwaiti sheikh and a friend from the United Arab Emirates who went on to become ambassador to the United States and Mexico, and is now one of the most powerful right hand persons for the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi."

Najib Razak became Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2009.

Soon, he became president of the board of advisers for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Although Low never received an official position, he admits that he occasionally "consulted" with 1MDB, and was involved in a number of transactions connecting his own interests with those of 1MDB, which he claimed were "arms-length and legally sound."

The Wall Street Journal has reported that a $33.5 million condominium in Manhattan was owned by a shell company under control of Low's family trust, and then was sold and transferred to a shell company controlled by Razak's stepson.

Another home in Beverly Hills, "known as the pyramid house for a gold pyramid in its garden", was owned by a shell company controlled by the Low family trust, and was sold and transferred to Razak's stepson by transferring shares of the shell company to him.

By 2010, Low had consolidated his fortune into Jynwel Capital, of which Low was the principal steward.

As steward of Jynwel, Low cultivated relationships with some of the world's largest and most reputable sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Co and the Kuwait Investment Authority.

Jynwel is connected with deals including the acquisition of New York's Park Lane Hotel for US$660 million in 2013 with The Witkoff Group and Mubadala; the takeover of Coastal Energy in 2014 for US$2.2 billion; and the buyout of EMI's music publishing business in 2012 for US$2.2 billion with the Blackstone Group, Sony Corporation and Mubadala.

Recovery of the rights in both movies was the subject of actions for recovery by the US Government in 2013 and 2016.

Low was the architect for Jynwel Capital's unsuccessful US$2.2 billion bid to buy Reebok from Adidas AG in October 2014.

Low supported Aziz in the establishment of Red Granite Pictures, a Hollywood production company responsible for films including Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber To.

Although earlier in his career Low had often claimed to be investing and making purchases on behalf of other investors or "friends" to maintain a low profile about his family's wealth, in 2015 Low said that his family had considerable independent means.

While a 2015 New York Times article suggested that his family was of "somewhat deflated affluence," a 2014 Wall Street Journal profile had called him a "scion."

In October 2016, Interpol published a red notice at Singapore's request to locate and arrest Low in an investigation related to 1MDB fund flows within its jurisdiction.

The request for assistance to provisionally arrest Low was sent to the Hong Kong Department of Justice in April 2016, according to a representative for Singapore's police, but the request was rejected by the Hong Kong authorities.

The claims were settled in August 2018, with the settlement stipulating that the payment should not be construed as "an admission of wrongdoing or liability on the part of Red Granite".

After the Malaysian general election in 2018, new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad re-opened the extensive investigations into the 1MDB matter and, despite prior findings by former Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission that no crime had been committed, issued arrest warrants against Low.

The filing of these charges leading to the arrest warrant were described by a spokesperson for Low as "political reprisal" by the Mahathir regime which was described as having a disregard for the rule of law.

In light of the warrants, some consider him a fugitive as he has reportedly been sought by the Malaysian authorities in connection with the 1MDB matter, notwithstanding that Low agreed to assist with the probe.

In 2019, US authorities pursuing Low described him as a financial intermediary, which allowed him to use his connections to high net worth individuals and international institutions to launder the money stolen through manipulation of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad.