Jho Low, a fugitive Malaysian financier wanted for one of the biggest financial scandals of the 21st century, has reportedly requested clemency from US President Donald Trump.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday that the pardon request “was filed in recent weeks,” citing a number of people familiar with the matter. A Justice Department website lists a pending application for “post-sentence pardon” under the name of Taek Jho Low that was filed this year, the WSJ added.
If granted, the pardon would eliminate US criminal charges against Low, accused of orchestrating the drain of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Malaysian state investment fund.
The 1MDB state investment fund was established by the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009. In the years that followed, according to U.S. and Malaysian investigators, more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by top fund officials and their associates, funds that were hidden in a financial maze of shell and dummy companies.
Chief among them is believed to be Low, who prosecutors say used the stolen funds to pay political clients and finance a series of lavish purchases, including luxury real estate, artwork and a $250 million superyacht, as well as to buy himself access to Hollywood’s elite. In their 2018 book about the scandal, former Wall Street Journal journalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope describe the 1MDB looting as one of the “greatest financial heists in history.”
The 1MDB scandal helped bring down Najib’s government, which was convicted in 2020 of abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering for illegally receiving around $10 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. He began serving a 12-year prison sentence after losing his final appeal in 2022. In December, Najib was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison in a second 1MDB-related trial.
The scandal also led to criminal investigations in several other countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore, and several other people involved in the 1MDB scandal, including Swiss and Singaporean bankers, were jailed.
Low has always denied any wrongdoing. An Interpol Red Notice regarding Low’s arrest was issued in 2018, but his whereabouts are unknown. Rumors have long circulated that he is hiding in China, even though Beijing denies his presence in the country.
The WSJ reported that Low’s latest efforts to clear himself of criminal charges related to 1MDB “have been underway for more than a year” and that Low told U.S. authorities in his clemency request that he “can help make deals.” The newspaper reports that he took some credit for a recent deal in which Malaysia returned to the United States a Bangladeshi man wanted on child sexual exploitation charges, although Malaysian authorities deny he had anything to do with it.
Low has already been in talks with US and Malaysian authorities to return hundreds of millions of dollars in 1MDB funds. In October 2019, the United States reached a deal with Low to recover approximately $700 million in assets, including a private jet and high-end real estate in Beverly Hills, New York and London. In 2024, the Justice Department said it recovered an additional $100 million in assets from Low.
The WSJ also reported that Malaysia had temporarily lifted its Interpol Red Notice against Low, in a bid to facilitate the recovery of additional assets.
In response to the WSJ article, Johari Abdul Ghani, chairman of a Malaysian task force seeking to recover funds and assets linked to 1MDB, said Low’s request for a presidential pardon should be rejected. He said Washington should instead help Malaysia find the fugitive businessman.
“As far as I am concerned, I am against the pardon,” Johari told local media.
A White House official told the WSJ that Low’s pardon request was not currently on his “radar,” but that since his second inauguration last year, he has signed a number of controversial pardons. Beneficiaries so far include Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Trevor Milton, who was convicted of defrauding investors in truck maker Nikola, and Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the cryptocurrency-powered Silk Road black market.
Given how Trump’s capriciousness and susceptibility to flattery have created anchors for individuals with checkered pasts, it’s not surprising that Low would take a chance.