NEW YORK: A US$51 million (RM210.5 million) penthouse in Manhattan’s Walker Tower, allegedly bought with money siphoned from 1MDB, will be put on sale.
US prosecutors and lawyers representing the trust that owns the property on Tuesday asked a federal judge in Los Angeles overseeing a civil forfeiture lawsuit to let them move forward with selling it, Bloomberg reported today.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said the penthouse was bought in 2014 by Khadem Abdulla al Qubaisi, a former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s government-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (Ipic).
Al Qubaisi was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison in Abu Dhabi. He and an accomplice were also ordered to pay US$336 million, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
The DoJ said Al Qubaisi, who is also the former chairman of restaurant and nightclub operator Hakkasan Group, received US$473 million stolen from 1MDB in 2012.
He was said to be aided by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. Besides the Manhattan penthouse, al Qubaisi is said to have bought a US$31 million mansion in Beverly Hills, California, also with 1MDB money.
