The Aftermath and Legal Consequences

This is an IHART podcast guaranteed human . I turned off news altogether . I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything . It's the rage baby It feels like it's trying to divide people . We got clear facts. Maybe we can calm down a little . NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America . What's up y'all? Summer's got a different hip of everything's a little looser, brighter. One planter turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer. Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in between moments. That's where the ideas hit. Conversations stretch out, little memories sneak up on you . Sometimes it's just about what's in your hand . That color, that chill, the new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks. Guava and Passion Fruit Flavors with Mango Pineapple flavored pear ls. Yeah , that feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny out one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm with Starbucks . Try the new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks . Between work, family, and trying to keep your succulents alive, Air Tasker knows you've got a full plate. Plates, actually , and they're all spinning. I need the driveway repaved, someone to water my plants while I'm out of town, and someone to do my nails, and my miniature ponies. Tasks big , medium, and well , many , we don't judge. We just help you keep it moving. Go to airtasker. com or download the app. AirTasker get anything done . Hey everyone, it's Kell Penn. I'm inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast Earsay, the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Club. Every episode I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiookos b available on Audible . It's the book club for your ears . Listen to Earsay, the Audible and I Heart Audio Book Club on the IHR radio app or wherever you get your podcasts With my mom and dad living in Orange County, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like ten. No, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either gonna be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster. Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingo Kids before we even pull out of the driveway. It's what dreams are made of. Lingo Kids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over four thousand interactive games, songs, and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of. You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingo Kids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride. Or really, any ride, plane , train, hovercraft, whatever. Download Lingo Kids for free today , or unlock even more amazing content with Lingo Kids plus. Choose the yearly plan and save up to sixty percent. Search Lingo Kids in the App Store or Google Pl ay. Lingo kids, everything kids love . Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio . Elizabeth Dutton. Sarah Burnett. What are you doing, girl? Just sitting here. You've been waiting for me? Sitting in my own filth. Nice . Do you like my filth? I love your filth. Hey, right back at you, girl. Thank you. I got a question, not about your filth. The question is simple, straightforward, right to the point. Do you know what's ridiculous? I do know it's ridiculous. Is it about your filth? It is it is about my filth. It's about the filth that I spread in the world. Ooh . So mashups ridiculous. It's ridiculous when rude dudes dip into the mashup pool , not in suggestions , but in participation. We got an email from Rud and it reads Terry PS as an aside, Terry the Assistant actually forwarding emails around they're good. Terry, I'm not to tell you. Terry, okay, anyways, let me read it. Hi guys, love the show. It's always entertaining. I'm a native Wisconsinite and a lifelong PBR drinker. Do with that what you will. Thanks to you, I heard about the Grillos PBR and found some at my local quick trip. What? I have to say it's actually pretty good . I attached a picture of a nearly finished can . Feel free to use this if you'd like. Thanks for the mashup. And there's a picture of a nearly finished can. Wow, look at that, Tom. You got it through a match up. team And I didn't even grimace once. You took one for the team? 'Cause you took one for the team. Well, and I think it's interesting is like I said, it's actually pretty good. Okay . So I trust him for Tom. Yeah. I was like, that sounds good for Tom. I think that's awesome. Thank you, Tom. Honestly, thank you. That is good. It's not only awesome, but you know what else it is? What? Ridiculous. Oh yeah. There it is. Over to you, erin. Okay, well, Elizabeth, I want to talk to you about something that near and dear to my heart Marlon Brando got an Oscar statuette for the best actor for his starring role in on the waterfront. Right. Okay. And leaving the whole like, you know, Elia Kazan American activities out of it. I still love that movie, right? Great film. Leonardo DiCaprio used to own that Oscar . Really? Before he had an Oscar of his own, before he won, I think for the Revenant or whatever , he had that Oscar. But sadly he no longer owns it. Did he get it a yard sale? No, and he didn't resell it. Instead, he was seized by the Department of Justice. Wait, what? Which means the US government now owns Brandos Oscar for on the waterfront. What? Yes , Elizabeth, this is all part of the story I want to tell you today. I'm so confused. The behind the scenes real life story, crime story no less of the Wolf of Wall Street, the movie. Oh there',s a whole crime story bigger than that one behind that movie and it features a man named Jolo. Jolo? Yes This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists and cons . It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. Stupid Elizabeth. Yes. Now, I've flirted with telling you this one for a long time. Did you know? And well today is finally that day. We get into the rampant international embezzling scheme that financed the wolf of Wall Street. Oh, so you're not going to tell the story of the dude who was Wolf of Wall Street. Jordan Belfort. Yeah, he shows up in this story so he is in this story. He's not the focus. Not at all. Dang. Yeah, talk about irony, right? You can make a movie about financial crimes by paying for it with wait for it, financial crimes. No. Now qu aick question, have you seen the wolf of Wall Street? Yes. Okay. You know, it's about a real life crimer named Jordan Belford. Right. And he is the wolf of the Wolf of Wall Street. The movie basically covers his rise and fall and him being a financial crim es mastermind, right? And he wrote a memoir and then Marty Scorsese turned it into a story became an Oscar nominated film. Yeah, Marty. Marty, your friend, exactly on that kind of basis. We're in a film watching group, Elizabeth and a kickball group. A cinema group. Marty's really good in center . So this whole , you know, Wolf of Wall Street is intended to be a cautionary tale about greed, another irony. Now, the film has one of my favorite Matthew McConaughey scenes where he and Leonard Diaprio are sitting there in some skyscraper having like a business lunch in Matthew McConaughey, he's doing blow at the table and then he makes Leo do that tribal beep on his chest . Love that scene. That scene was not in the script by the way. Leonard Diaprio style Matthew McConaughey doing that for his warm up exercises. And he's like, put to put that on camera. Warm up . Because a producer for the film, so he can make those kind of calls. Sure. Yeah. That's his warm . A lot of people like Denzel talks about that beating on his body a little bit to get loose, you know, like you really want to be in your body as an actor. Did he also hunt? Doesn't he hum? Yeah, usually he's hitting his chest and humming . Oh my go d. Anyway, I was like embarrassed for him and that I love him and everything he does . So anyway, the summer of twenty thirteen, Leonardo DiCaprio had just finished shooting the Wolf of Wall Street, right? Early talk was this film's a lock for the Oscars. They've done it again, better than the Aviator, blah, blah, blah. Now that's this helps explains Leo's excitement and his like, you know, self serious tone and his confidence when he spoke with Deadline later on that same year in December twenty thirteen, right? Leo is telling Deadline about his latest film, a dream project that he'd been trying to make for a while and he's both the star and the producer . he And tells Deadline, and I quote, Everything Jordan wrote in this book was so raw. The crash of two thousand eight was a huge motivator for me as well to want to really see what's going on in our culture that creates people like this. Greed is a timeless virtue. I've been talking about greed a lot in interviews and you can't pinpoint it to any specific time period or any civilization or even just human beings. It's a fundamental characteristic of survival. As we are progressing into the future, things are moving faster and we are way more destructive than we've ever been. We have not evolved at all. Well said, Leo, well said. Amen. I'm very asterised. So greed is bad. We are still subject to its seductive siren call. Right. Gotcha. Because he lives a monastic lifestyle. He's an environmentalist. He doesn't care about things bigger than himself. He does not get paid for anything . So Elizabeth, there's a great cosmic irony that Leo partners in this film were the masterminds of international fraud appalls and an orgy of embezzlement and other financial crimes. And as I said, far bigger than what Jordan Belford had ever done. Really? Yes. And when he gave that interview, Leo was knee deep in the greed, like just surrounded by it, sinking deeper deeper into it. It was all around him, but somehow he missed it. Somehow just didn't see it. Wow. Somehow this highly intelligent, very sensitive actor never recognized the look of real life greed when it was the one buying him champagne at a casino. But Zarin, he was talking about it a lot in the interviews. Yeah, well as he pointed out totally, he wanted you to know he's thinking about greed, but he still missed it when that same Greed gave him a Jean Michel Basquiat painting worth nine point two million dollars. Yes, it was just as a gift. He missed it when it bought him Marthin Brando's Oscar, right? But we're getting ahead of ourselves. It's time to meet our man of the hour, Joelo. Jo Lo, like Jo, but Joelo. Jo Lo J H O Joe L O W Joe Low. Oh, so two words. Two words, yes. Mr. Low. Yes. Now Low, comma, Joe. J H O . I'm doing the math. Yes. In my face. Now to give you a sense of his character back in April of twenty thirteen , just after the Wolf of Wall Street was filming, done filming that it had rapped, Joe Lowe was partying in New York and he nearly lost his life to Buster Rhymes . Yeah. I mean, who among us? By the way, this story is going to keep doing that where I'm going to say something and all of a sudden a celebrity pops up. You did not expect. I like that. So the story goes, this socially awkward thirty year old financier, Lo Taik Joe, AKA Joe Lohm because he's Malaysian and of Chinese ethnicity. So it's the reverse. Exactly. So he was at Jungle City studios in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan . He was there in the studio. He was there to record a vanity track called Void of a Legend Do with that what you will. So he's he's in the recording studio. What's the genre? Rap of course, Elizabeth. He's rap id. Yes, financial guys love rap. It's all about the Benjamins. That's as far as they're concerned. So Jo Lo had paid the rapper and producer Swiss Beats to help him record his vanity project. Mr. Alicia Keys? Yes , himself . And also there that night was Farrell Williams and Buster Rhimes. No , this is horrible. So they're all together in the studio in Chelsea in Manhattan, twenty thirteen. Indulging Jolo. Indulging him. And at one point, a quite visibly drunk Jo Loe looks at Buster Rhymes across the studio and he yells out at him Yo , I own you. You're my bitch. Whoa . Yes. Well, Elizabeth by the way, it's never good to tell a black man in America that you own him. I don't think I need to explain that further. I don't want to yes, but then but also because I don't know if you don't play as fantasy sports, but I see this often in fantasy sports because people talk about how they own a player and then they forget how they talk about that amongst their friends and then there's they're at a game or some social function and they see a player that they have on their fantasy team and they yell at this real life person. I own you man, I need more points this weekend and once again do, not yell at a black man that you own him. I'm just saying it's never gonna be a good . Let's just avoid that completely. Right. So we're just avoid fantasy sports . Well, that's my thing about that's my complaint about football is the plantation mentality. There is that, yeah Anyway, so off of that, in this case, Joe Lowe, as I said, was drunk. And he was all hyped up on the fact that he had just purchased EMI music publishing. Wait, what? Yes, he bought it for a hundred million dollars. How does this guy? He wanted Buster Rhymes to know he owned his publishing and thus in his mind he owned Buster Rhymes. Right, but then also you're my bitch. Yeah, he was drunk and he was like a finance bro he. was So like, let me put you in your place. I own you, right? So Joe Lo's, we'll call it Joke Taunt did not land . It was about to result in a epic beat down when Ferrell Williams had to like step in , he had to calm down buster rhymes and tell him like you used to be in half you got to be happy and then they punched him. They joined up. So there you go, a glimpse at the character of Joe Lo, right? That is incredible. But I've got more for you because I also have an eyewitness account, not from the gossip press or from like, you know, some hip hop outlet that's like, oh, we got the latest news that nobody will tell you, right? Right. This friend of mine, he works as a DJ . He did work as a DJ in Las Vegas. All right . And he was working there back when Jo Lo was a regular at the daytime rooftop pool parties that they have at the casino. Oh dear. Yeah . So back then he was called a super VIP Jo L,o not my friend, friend. My Jeff, he was a DJ as I said. He tells me the story about working a private party for this super VIP. So he did he go and he gambled a lot? He was a whale that he was a whale, yeah. So according to my friend Jeff, and I quote , I see this very heavy set Asian guy wearing one of those Ahole yacht caps and he's sitting in this cabana. They had bottles and all the bottle service girls were huddled around this area to party. There was a special DJ that had come in. So I continued to do my job. At one point, Jo Lo grabbed a microphone. There was like a wireless handheld that was sent to his cabana for him to say what he wanted or whatever. He says, everybody in the pool, everybody. I mean everybody in the pool and I thought I'm not getting in the pool, but I'll film this. So I grabbed my cell phone. I started filming everybody doing what this VIP wanted. And I mean eighty percent of the people in the pool were staff. Everybody did what this guy told him to do, and they all got in the pool fully dressed and I'm filming it. So what did he catch on camera? Great question, Elizabeth. We may never know. Well, again, according to my friend Jeff, and I quote , This Asian guy came up to me and said the fuck you doing? I stared at him blankly. I didn't know what the problem was. People had cell phones out filming stuff at the club all the time, and no one ever had an issue with it. But this was like a major deal. I started getting emails on my phone immediately from different management people in the casino and the club. The Asian dude got really abrasive with me, so I apologized and he made me erase the footage. I learned later that it was what's called a blackout event. That's when there's like high security and no one's allowed to film or photograph or record anything . This guy low was throwing away so much money that he was just hemorrhaging money. It was beyond trying to burn money. Brewster's millions is the only thing that comes to mind. Why would one literally burn piles of money? For what reason? If you had that much and you just wanted to get rid of it as much as you can before you die, that's one thing. That was not this. This story is another thing, Elizabeth. Yes , so that's an eyewitness account. Just the money to say this is a blackout event . Did he did he rent the whole basically the club? Yeah, the club yeah and the rooftop pool club and then he had and then he had the staff the staff didn't have people had the staff get in the pool like pretend to be having fun That sounds like hell on Earth. For you, one hundred percent. For me, one hundred percent, I would just start throwing people off the roof. If I couldn't throw myself, I'd throw everybody . Someone's coming off that roof. Someone, someone's out of here. So now we're back to the essential question, who the hell is Joe Lo? I'm happy to tell you, I have answers, lots of answers. So Lo Teiko was born in Malaysia in nineteen eighty one. He was born a son of privilege. He good's with numbers, sharp minded , you know. So his family sent him to Haro. It's a private school in London. Right, right. So old that it was founded by a charter from Queen Elizabeth I way back in fifteen seventy two. Yeah. So his classmates were the sons of kings and the nephews of prime ministers from around the world right. It's where everybody sons are special boys. Right. Elizabeth, you might say that the British private schools are a lot like prison. Yeah. They're a great place to learn to be a better criminal. True. I mean, I wouldn't say that but you might say , I'll say anything there. So anyway, Jovo, he said of his private school days they absolutely shaped his future. In an interview with the Toronto Star, he said, and I quote there were a few key relationships which I started to develop there. Harrow had lots of children of prominent European, Asian, and Middle Eastern families. That's when I met the former King of Jordan's son, among others. Yeah, right . So those early heavy days at Harrow, they were the key that unlocked the man and criminal he would become . Or as Jo Lo put it in his interview with the Toronto Star , that's when I felt that I built the core foundation of context for the future. That's quite important because that's when you know them as friends and you build the trust level for the future as opposed to meeting someone during the course of your business life. He's like, get them whether they susceptible. Get them exactly . You see some of the terrible things they do as youth. Yeah, right and hold it over them. And this is really why you want your kids to go to an elite school, not the education. Oh, it's for their connections. Yeah, completely. So asre attends Harrow, Joe Load transfers to Wharton School of Business here in the US , which coincidentally is also the President's alma maternation. Apropo, nothing. But I correct. Right. At Wharton, Jo Lo made a name for himself on campus. His nickname was the Asian Great Gatsby. He made his own nickname , is he, did he? I don't know about that, but it should give you some idea of how he was perceived by his class. Asian Great Gatsby, that's not a nickname. No, in short, it was known that just like Jay Gatsby, Jo Lo was a schemer, a striver, an operator, and a social device. Yeah, yeah, but that's like the lamest nickname . Now, Jo Lo, for instance , to give you an example of his Jay Gats being around, he once invited his Wharton classmate , Ivanka Trump to go on a gambling trip with him and some of his friends to where Atlantic City . Oh, you see, Jo Lo had a big time crush on Ivanka and he thought she might go for a guy like him. Oh, I'm having like a sl iding doors moment of like an alternative reality . Ivanka politely declined the invite, but the way Jo lo later told the story, he explained her rejection was far less about him and more about her father. You see, Jool told his friends that Ivanka said, quote , she'd never set foot in one of her father's ski casinos. Right. So that's from Jolo. I didn't say that. So at this at this point in his story, Jolo movese on to his next crush, someone who was also a rich, mildly attractive blonde daughter of a famous American family . He started angling for Paris Hilton. Oh dear. Clearly the man had a type. Now yeah. His roommates at Wharton later recalled that Jolo loved to watch House of Wax. Now if that name doesn't sound familiar , it was Paris Hilton's debut movie. Yeah. He watched it over and over again app,arently. Just all the time.. Oh God So now Joe didn't know it back then, but one day a drunken Paris Hilton would be photographed at a casino with his sweaty alcohol flushed face pressed against her shoulder. That was all to come Elizabeth. That's the future we have to look forward to. So back to his college days after Wharton, Lowe returned to Malaysia, there he tried his hand at a few businesses. None of them were successful, but he did orchestrate the sale of a skyscraper. So that had to make his parents proud, right? I mean, he's like, Oh, you sold that. So the big building. That long, daddy? Yeah. So after that, he then partnered with a man named Reza Aziz. He was a friend of his he'd met back when they were both attending private school in London . So we're now working together in Malaysia, Jo Lo and Aziz won the backing of Aziz's stepfather, this man named Najib Razak . Now, you see at the time, he was the Defense Minister of Malaysia, and then in a very short time he was elected prime minister of Malaysia. Oh wow. Yes. And then working together, the three men conspired to create a sovereign wealth fund for Malaysia. It's basically a state owned development investment program And this was just after the financial meltdown of two thousand eight. Perfect timing. But these men saw opportunity, Elizabeth, where the rest of us saw ruin, they saw the news for the future. So they said, you know what? There's big deals to be made , there's steals to be lifted, fraud to be purchased, right? So in two thousand nine, Jo Lo returns to America with the backing of the Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund and he's over there looking to make big deals. Doesn't take long for the New York G possipages to find him. So like page six of the New York Post, they spot Joe Lo out making an ass of himself all across the Manhattan nightclub scene. This is like in November of two thousand nine. Okay . In his very first news story , Joe Lowe is pictured sweaty faced, champagne drunk. Sweaty all the time. He's often I can get pretty spitzy, but like, yeah, it's just kind of his like quality. He's like, look, I'm dancing, I'm having fun . It's hot in here . So he was basically the New York Post covers him. He's just like this another finance bro in Manhattan, right? Just a deewy man. So if you look at a photo of him, you'd never imag thatin thised guy would become the mastermind of an international money laundering scheme to steal billions of dollars . Right? In the very second sentence in the very first story I ever written about Jo Lo reads like the opening line of a fairy tale about a money launderer. As the post reported quote, a Joe Low comes around once in a lifetime. Marveled one industry veteran. Oh no. Yes. Now to be clear, the industry wasn't investment banking or finance, it was nightclubs. Exactly. So this Malaysian international man of mystery had become modestly famous for downing champagne and chasing long legged models. Yeah, as the post noted and I quotee, Low just celebrated his twenty eighth birthday in Las Vegas, a four day affair that started out last Wednesday at Caesar's Palace, where sources said the swimming pool was stocked with bikini clad party girls and surrounded by caged lions and tigers . So after that pool party to start the debauchery, his birthday entourage hit up a nightclub in the casino where Paris Hilton and Usher danced the night away with Joe and drank with him and his friend s. Hell on earth. Also, Jamie Fox reportedly gave Jo Lo a sports car for his twenty eighth birthday. What? Yeah, where did that come from? Don't add me. You're just gonna keep popping up. Keep your head on a swivel. Now, at the end of that New York Post article, a friend of Lowe's tried to dispel any mystery about Jo Lo , but instead only enlarged it because the friend said, and I quote, he's not an arms dealer and he doesn't want all this publicity . It's always fun when you have your friends trying to clarify that your perpetually drunk friend is not an arms dealer. I've never had anyone say, you know, the thing about Elizabeth is she's not an arms dealer. One thing you can say about Elizabeth, not an arms dealer . Lintels do they know . Now that we've met our crimer of the day, let's take a little break and after these messages, we will get high and low with Joe Mo hammed I never realized my skills could earn extra income until I joined AirTasker. Now I book tasks like setting up a home office or walking poodles. I name my price and get paid securely. Go to airtasker dot com or download the app. AirTasker. Get anything done . I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything . It's the ragebait . It feels like it's trying to divide people . We got clear fact s, maybe we can calm down a little . NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there . NBC News report ing for America . Mom, can I have lingo kids? Lingo kids, please. When did we become the Lingo Kids house? No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it was Lingo kids. Why lingo kids? Because it's the best thing ever. Games. What's astronauts? Wild animals and superheroes. With more than four thousand interactive games, songs, and shows, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids. So no d inosaurs? And dinosaurs. Everything kids love. Download it for free. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. This podcast is sponsored by Veracity. Welcome to an all natural way to slim down , get energized and sharpen your focus. Veracity is revolutionizing health by tackling the root cause of so many issues. With Veracity's drug free, clinically proven and doctor formulated solutions, you can support your body's needs to live your healthiest life. If your goal is weight loss, try metabolism Ignite, the number one doctor recommended GLP one booster and GLP one alternative. Metabolism Ignite has sold out ten times for a reason no side effects, no allergens. Metabolism Ignite is a natural, safe, plant based aid that results in an eighty five percent reduction in hunger, and is clinically proven to lose, on average nine pounds in ninety days, and metabolism Ignite is safe for everyone, including breastfeeding new moms and women in perimenopause. So before metabolism Ignite sells out again, make the switch to GLP ones the natural way. Head to Veracityhealth. com and use code iHart for up to sixty five percent off your order . Once again, that's VER AC I TY Health . com for up to sixty five percent off and make sure you use my promo code iHeart . A lot of wellness routines start with motivation and end somewhere between week two and a half used supplement draw. Grooons was created to make daily nutrition simpler. Instead of pills or chalky green drinks, grooms packed over twenty essential vitamins and minerals, greens, and prebiotics into a snack pack of delicious gummies. It feels approachable and not demanding. The convenient comprehensive formula supports gut health , beauty, energy, immunity, recovery and cognition in one daily habit. Grunes contain six grams of fiber, which is more than two cups of broccoli, and the ingredients in Groons are backed by thirty five thousand research publications , which is part of what makes the formula so intentional. Grunes is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, and made without artificial colours or flavours. Plus it's methylated, so key nutrients like B twelve and folate are informed your body can use. It's comprehensive nutrition designed for routines you can actually stick with. Get up to fifty two percent off with code cry at groons. com that's code cry at GRUNS dot c and we're back, Elizabeth. Hello. You ready for more Joelo? Yeah. More twenty ten celebs in Young Hollywood. This is so great. Good. Who else is gonna pop up? It's like whackamol. Oh, you wait for the rest of these moments. Oh no. Okay, so where were we? All right, it's two thousand nine and the gossip rags have just learned the name Jo Lo, right? Well, after the New York Post spots him, next came Gawker's coverage IP gauker. I miss Gawker. We could use gawker right about. Desperately need a gauker right now. Yeah. So gauker publishes their first story on him six hours after the New York Post story drops. Nice. They're like, We're on it too. So they had more details from that epic Las Vegas casino birthday party. The one Yeah, well G asawker reported and I, quote e, Mghan Fox was flown out to Vegas to hang out with the birthday boy who routinely surrounds himself with models . So did he like hire Meghan Fox? He's hiring everybody. And he's paying everyone The about thing these celebrities that you know they do, I mean, you have it used to be that celebrities didn't want to do commercials . And so they did them in the foreign . And now they don't care. They'll plug anything just get paid . But they' alsod do all these weird appearances personal appearances. Pay to have them go wherever. Yeah, they used to be like, oh, like, you know, so and so went over and went to Oman for this book like, you know, leaders sons birthday party and then perform ed and it's not even like JLO is in Qatar anymore. Now it's like you can get them to come down for like your furniture store's opening if you're willing to pay them one hundred thousand dollars. Yeah you got enough money. Yeah . So okay so as also Galk hadar another great quote about Joe Loe, they I think provide some interesting color about how Joe Loe quote rents several apartments in the park imperial on West fifty seven street in midtown that house him and his staff, including several bodyguard s, famous neighbors include Daniel Craig and Sean Combs . Oh yeah, birds are scary . It's key to remember that this was two thousand nine. Just one year earlier, the entire world 's economy had melted down. Yeah. So not many people were in the mood to throw money around. Well, and he has multiple apartments. Yes. Yes. That's just obscene. No one knows where the money's coming from. People are wondering is he an arms dealer? What's his story? They don't even wonder . They don't care. They don't care. Is he an arms dealer? Because that's a fun, exciting little bit of gossip. But they don't they don't give a toss when where it comes from. Also, the people were talking about like okay. This is when Las Vegas began to seriously court international gamblers as you well know because they needed to stay in business . And so what was true for like Vegas casino general managers was also true for Manhattan nightclub owners. Naturally, they were both more than happy to protect a man's privacy or a person's privacy, you know, Jo Lo's privacy in particular because he was saving their assets as far as they were concerned. Like we need a guy like him. That bottle service markup? Yeah, exactly. So you know, like nobody as I said, nobody was throwing money around like Joe. So people were ready to protect him possibly from himself, but at least like the wrong people seeing him. Yeah. So back to Jolo. The year is twenty ten now. So Jo Lo grows even more flagrant . Now, remember his crush on Paris Hilton, who's now partying with? I remember that. Well, in twenty ten, there were now rumors in print that Joelo was paying Paris Hilton a million dollars to hang out with him and to party in places like Santra . And he apparently rented a yacht from the billionaire Paul Allen. Oh wow. His like mega yacht tatous is what he called three hundred three foot yacht. It's a kind of boat that has a movie theater and a parking spot for your helicop ter, right? That kind of boat. And so then the rumors hit the press that Parasilton was dating him or at least spending time with him. And so she denies them, right? She has her rep to tell the New York Post. They are friends. They're not canoodling. Yeah, they're just he pays her for her time. If someone like, let's think of like a if some guy, some random eccentric guy said I'll pay you a million dollars or no, let's say let's say some bodacious babe or not so bodaceous babe I guess is if we're going to do equivalents said I'll give you a million dollars Aaron to come party with me on the Mediterranean. Would you do it? Would you go? I would need to know more information. Like, you know, what is this party? Why do you want me? This one? When do I get the money hang out? Like I'm not signing NDAs, you know, there's a lot of stuff that I just'll bet you, yeah, I bet you had them. Oh yeah, totally. It's a whole lifestyle. So like I'm not it's not the money part though. Like I don't mind being like, oh a paid person , but it would be the fact that like I have I have morality about that. I'm not you can't pay me to do something I don't want to do. Right. But if you want to just pay me to like party on a yacht, if I was into partying on yachts, I'd be like, sure. And obviously Paris Hilton is enjoying partying God, you're not asking her to do anything she doesn't like doing. If I was something equivalent, like these erron to, come you to want my fancy football draft, I'd be like, sure for a million dollars. Come ride mountain bikes with me. Yes, there you go. Right. So that make it a little easier. I get it. Yes. Okay, so at this point now, the New York Post, they find some of Parasilton'ss friend who claim Joe is actually only paying her a hundred thousand dollars each time they hang out. Oh yeah. That's why yeah, I came up with that number. So believe whatever and whoever you want. But the point is Jo Lo was using Parisil Hton and paying her so he could get famous and also gain access to real stars and big, big money. Yeah. So according to there's a whole book about him called Billion Dollar Whale. And according to Billion Dollar Whale, which was written by the way by a pair of Wall Street Journal reporters. Very good book. Joe Low was with Paris Hilton when she celebrated her twenty ninth birthday . Their entourage partied in Vegas at the Palazzo, and Joe Lowe gave his long time crush a cartier watch . And then as the book reports, Lowe quote handed her two hundred fifty thousand dollars in gambling chips and asked her to join him at the Bakerat table . At her birthday party? Yes. I mean this sounds great. Join me at the Bakerat too. And she just accepts it. Of course. And that's not all because back to the book, Billion Dollar Wale, quote, between october two thousand nine and june twenty ten, a period of only eight months, low and his entourage spent eighty five million dollars on alcohol, gambling in Vegas, private jets, renting super yachts, and to pay playmates and Hollywood celebrities to hang out with them. five million dollars in eight months . That's more than ten million dollars a month . I just oh my god. I need to ask you another question, Elizabeth. Sure. If you stole a billion dollars from the people of Malaysia, what would you do with it ? A billion dollars from the people of Malaysia . You ask me a question. That's the question for you. Well, I guess I got to figure out how to make sure they don't come at me. But does this assume they can't? So they can't because I'll say like half of it is my state is to pay for my standing army. No. And smart . And the rest, you know , just chillin'. Well, how treating people to burritos like I just pay a burrito like pick up like people's vet bills. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Go down to a vet hospital and hanging out. Just yeah, and just be like, how much how much did people owe you this month? Put the card down. There it is. There it is. Yeah, they'd do stuff like that, you know, school field trips. Sch loolunch es, I know you are. Okay, I got a more specific second question. How much of that same billion dollars would you use to bankroll the sequel Dumb and Dumarer two I'd say probably around zero dollars. Well, it turns out that movie was bankrolled by Cholo . And that was also the Malaysian wealth fund, really. The first time people began to take notice of Jolo's Hollywood aspirations. Also it was the first time people began to make concrete legal claims against him. You know, just think about like the person who reeled him in and like when he said yes, I'll do it and starts transferring money and like all the people that like the guy who secured the funding is telling. Oh yeah. How excited? Like, you're never gonna believe how much money I got. Yeah, just awareness how this keeps spiraling . So at this point it's the summer of twenty thir teen, right? Just after Leonardo DiCaprio finished filming the Wolf of Wall Street in the like autumn of twenty twelve and that long ago . So at this point, Joe Loe gets sued by the producers of Dumb and Dumarer two. See, the producers alleged in their lawsuit against Jo Lo's production company Red Granite, and I quote, Red granite is funded with monies that include proceeds from offenses against a foreign nation that involve bri bery, public officials or misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement of public funds by a public official. Plaintiffs are informed and believe that public officials in Asia and the Middle East have taken bribes and are misappropriated, stolen, or embezzled funds, and that those ill gotten funds have been invested in red granite. That pretty much lays it all out, right? Right there in Legal Language. So what's the story of this production company, Red Granite? You told that fantastic question, Elizabeth. You see, back in twenty ten, Jo Lo and his school friend, Reza Aziz, they decided to get into the film business. Yeah. Neither man had any experience in Hollywood. Why not? But in fact, Aziz had been a banker in London. So he thought, oh, after the financial collapse of two thousand eight, he decided to get out of banking and he's like, I'm gonna get into the picture business. These are very similar . Luckily for him in two thousand nine, his stepfather, the newly elected prime minister of Malaysia, formed something called O MneDB , which stands for One Malaysia Development Bearheart, or Bank . Now, that's the aforementioned sovereign wealth fund I told you about. And Jo Lo conspired along with his buddy Aziz and his stepfather to create. It was designed to quote invest in green energy and tourism to create high quality jobs for all Malaysians . But really it was a big piggy bank for them to loot. Yeah. This is where it starts to resemble our more modern money launder ing schemes. You see, the Malaysian government partnered with a Saudi investment firm called Petro Saudi, and that all made perfect sense on paper since Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim nation, it's also conservative, and it's an oil producer, just like Saudi Arabia. They're like, we have similar business interests. So the investment deal was Malaysia and Petro Saudi contributed two point five billion dollars to the new one MDB investment fund. So is it for green energy ? Yeah, because back then that's what Saudi Arabia was talking about. Yeah. The future was going to be green energy. Yeah. So the sensibly this was for new infrastructure as well as oil development projects because they're they're not going to leave their money maker behind. Right. So meanwhile , behind the scenes, seven hundred million dollars was directed into a shell company called Goodstar, which was a company owned and controlled by Jolo . So there are all these many bribes and payoffs to Malaysian officials to grease the wheels of their conspiracy, not to mention the fees paid international investment banks like Goldman Sachs because the investment bank's executives help make this scheme pass compliance and beat all the regulators and what they would do. And as you might imagine, with all that graft and outright theft, it didn't leave much money for the needed green energy and infrastructure projects or the quote, high quality jobs for all Malaysians. But anyway, back to Red Granite in twenty ten, using the money embezzled from one MDB and dispersed through Lowe's front company Goodstar, Aziz took a cut of the hundreds of millions of dollars and he bought himself a production company and he named himself co founder and CEO Why not? And then to make their name on the Hollywood scene, Joe Lowe did what he did best. He threw an epic party to announce their new production company, Red Granite. And in May of twenty eleven, at the Conn Film Festival, Red Granite announced that they had just purchased the rights to the Wolf of Wall Street and they intended to make it with DiCaprio and Scorsese . This was huge news. Yeah . Because as the Hollywood press reported it at the time, DiCaprio had finally found someone to pay for his dream project. He'd been wanting to make this for years . And the Wolf of Wall Street had been mired in development. It had gone into turnaround. It had been just been bobbing around Hollywood for a while. It was always deemed basically too expensive because it had a hard R rating . It also had a hundred million dollar budget. So it was a risky investment as far as all the calculus they use. Sure. So back in two thousand nine, no one in Hollywood was willing to take that risk because nobody has any money. Right, right and of all sud aden this guy when Red Granite comes along, he goes to Cons and announces we're making it. We're doing the wolf of Wall Street and to make sure people had all eyes on the Red Granite party, they flew in Kanye West to perform. Oh no. And when you know it for Le Williams opened for Kanye? What is he buzzing around this whole thing? So you got Bradley Cooper and Leonard DiCaprio dancing in the crowd and later on when Kanye took the stage, Jamie Fox joined him and together they performed gold digger with Jamie Fox doing his own like, you know, bit from the Race . So it was quite the spectacles when I was talking quite the party. You would have loved to be love, I mean hate In an interview with Collider, producer Riza Aziz, he spoke to the many questions about what an amateur like him was doing in Conns or in Hollywood and why some neophyte like him was producing a movie with one of the greatest living directors and how he'd managed to partner with one of the world's most famous and respected leading men. Yeah. And obviously, the answer was quite simple. Money Money. Aziz called the Wolf of Wall Street a compelling story about quote, a guy who comes from nothing , gets everything overnight and becomes rich. And in that journey from nothing to everything, he gets sidetracked with all the drugs, the hookers, and the alcohol. And once he gets to the top, he gets taken down by the government. It's an aspirational story. Yeah. He also promised that once again, quote, When you see the film, it's a good snapshot of what American capitalism is like kind of an indictment. he's like, and that's compliment ary. Yeah. So I guess true words were never spoken, right? That doesn't answer the question. How did Jolo and Reiza Aziz impress Scorsese and DiCaprio enough to work with them? Yeah. I said money, but there's more to it.. Okay Let's take a break and after these messages we will get back into the more. Air Tasker's here for your to do list. Good. I've got candle orders to ship and a dryer that's completely given up . Post your tas atk aedir tasker. com or download the app and taskers will handle it. Air Tasker, get anything done I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything . It's the ragebait . It feels like it's trying to divide people . We got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little . NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there NBC News reporting for America . With my mom and dad living in Orange County, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like ten. No, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster. Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingo Kids before we even pull out of the driveway. It's what dreams are made of. Lingo Kids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over four thousand interactive games, songs, and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of . You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingo Kids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride. Or really, any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever. Download Lingo Kids for free today. Or unlock even more amazing content with Lingo Kids plus. Choose the yearly plan and save up to sixty percent. Search Lingo Kids in the App Store or Google Play. Lingo Kids, everything kids love. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. This podcast is sponsored by Veracity. Welcome to an all natural way to slim down. Get energized and sharpen your focus. Veracity is revolutionizing health by tackling the root cause of so many issues. With Veracity's drug free, clinically proven and doctor formulated solutions, you can support your body's needs to live your healthiest life. If your goal is weight loss, try metabolism ignite, the number one doctor recommended GLP one booster and GLP one alternative. Metabolism Ignite has sold out ten times for a reason. No side effects, no allergens. Metabolism Ignite is a natural, safe, plant based aid that results in an eighty five percent reduction in hunger and is clinically proven to lose on average, nine pounds in ninety days. And metabolism Ignite is safe for everyone, including breastfeeding new moms and women in perimenopause. So before metabolism Ignite sells out again, make the switch to GLP one s the natural way. Head to Veracityhealth. com and use code IHART for up to sixty five percent off your order . Once again, that's VER AC I TY Health . co for up to sixty five percent off and make sure you use my promo code iHeart . This is Radi Dublicia from a really good cry . A lot of wellness routines start with motivation and then somewhere between week two and a half used supplement draw. Gruens was created to make daily nutrition simpler. Instead of pills or chalky green drinks, Grunens packed over twenty essential vitamins and minerals , greens and prebiotics into a snack pack of delicious gummies. It feels approachable and not demanding. The convenient, comprehensive formula supports gut health, beauty, energy, immunity, recovery and cognition in one daily hab it. Grunes contain six grams of fiber which is more than two cups of broccoli, and the ingredients in Gruns are backed by thirty five thousand research publications , which is part of what makes the formula so intentional. Grunes is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, and made without artificial colours or flavours. Plus, it's methylated, so key nutrients like B twelve and folate are informs your body can actually use. It's comprehensive nutrition designed for routines you can actually stick with. Get up to fifty two percent off with code cry at groons.co that's code cry at g r ns dot c We're back, Elizabeth. We are back. Are you enjoying Jo and this crazy tour subscribe. No, very much so. Okay, well back to my man Riza Aziz . He had an interview with Collider, the media outlet that covers like entertainment. Yeah . And in that interview, he credited his businessman's efficiency for his success with it with all efficiency. He said explaining how he got into the wolf of Wall Street and got Marty and Leo to come together on the project. Yes. He said and I quote We bought the script in the book writes for Warner Bros. and signed Leo on and then waited for Marty to finish with Hugo and signed him on. Once you get those two guys on board, it's a fast moving train right after. It's been a great ride so far. At least he didn't mix his metaphors that much. If you ask the actual wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belford, who was yeah brought into all this. He's got to be making money off of it . No, he told The Hollywood Reporter in twenty fourteen, a little bit later, quote, Leo just refused to let it die. And after the option expired in twenty eleven, Scott Lambert called a meeting with everybody, me, DiCaprio's man ager, Rick Yorn, Leo and Alexandra at the polo lounge. And Leo goes, We're going to get Marty. And then I start hearing about Red Granite. They buy it, they announce it at Khan. They said, listen, we're going to make Marty an offer. He can't refuse . Isn't that cute? I love that they're at the polo lounge, right? The Hollywood newbies are gonna make a godfather reference about them pressuring Martin making their film. So good. At the polo lounge. At the polo lounge, anyway, pink and green everywhere. So before filming began, for New Year's Eve in twenty twelve, Joe Lo and Aziz, Jamie Fox, Diaprio and his co star, Jonah Hill, they all celebrate New Year's together in Austral . Then they hopped on a private jet and they flew to Vegas where they promptly celebrated the New Year a second time. Isn't that amazing, Elizabeth? You know, it's the concern for the environment by jumping up, you know ? But see, they had enough embezzled money to celebrate New Year's twice. Sure. I mean, if time is money, why not cheat time too? You know, at least Leo drives a prius. Yeah, of course. Offset all that. So in the fall of twenty twelve, the winter of twenty thirteen, they filming the wolf of Wall Street, right? And then when they get done to commemorate the fact that they rapped Jo Lo and Riza Ziv, they gave Leonardo DiCaprio a very personal birthday gift , something that had eluded him thus far. It was an Oscar. That's right, Red Granite presented DiCaprio with the Oscar Statue that Marlon Brando won for on the waterfront. So why didn't Marlon Brando have this? Here's a bunch of interesting stories, backstories of both of his oscars. He also had another Oscar, the one he got for the Godfather. Apparently that one also got lost to the wind and ended up with Charlie Chaplin of all people. I don't know why this this one was, what happened to it? Yeah, did he get randomly? He seemed to care about his oscar. Well, I know he doesn't care but I'm just curious if he wish I had an answer for you. Gave it away to someone else. No, I do not know. But I do know that it costs them six hundred thousand dollars to buy it from the new owner. Interesting. Yeah, but what's six hundred grand between friends? You know exactly. So Joe Lo and Riz ziz, they hoped that that Oscar would bring good luck to Leo and their film. And you know, if you allow me to momentarily fast forward to the Oscars that next following year, DiCaprio was nominated for Best Actor for the Wolf of Wall Street, and the film was nominated for Best Picture, and sadly neither one. You know, you look at how badly everyone knew that Leonardo DiCaprio really wanted an Oscar. Yeah . And to give him one that's not his, like , exactly what he did . It's like no, he doesn't want the statuette, you ding don't need just gold. He wants the award. He wants everyone to he wants to accolade. Here's a tiny gold man. You like tiny gold man? Here you go . It's like, well here, Marlon Brando won one. You have it. But we bought and Brando was gonna have his will that makes you happy Brando but his hair does that make you happy . So back to the gifts for Leo because there's others as I pointed out. In May of twenty thirteen, a little bit after this, DiCaprio holds this art auction for his environmental charity because he's into that Joe attends the auction. He snaps up two pieces of art to support his friend's cause, of course. Of course. This sparks this art buying frenzy for Jo Lo. So earlier in March, he'd bought his very first piece of art and it was Jean Michel Basquiat's collage painting Red Man from nineteen eighty two. He bought it for nine point two million dollars . And then two days after DiCaprio's art auction in May, Joe Loe bought another basquiat, Dust Heads, the very famous painting. Yeah. That one cost him forty eight point eight million dollars. It was a record What? It was a record at the time for a work by basquiat. What? Yes . And then that June, Joel grabbed a Rothko that set him back about seventy one point five million. Oh my god Elizabeth he was hooked. He got the bug. I just can't I can't get my head around the prices and the fact that like Malaysia 's buying these. Not knowing for their good jobs in Malaysia. Green infrastructure is really helping the green infrastructure. Next, Joe picked up works from Picasso, Van Gogh, or Van Gogh, Monet, Liechtenstein, Warhol, and Samorabaschiats. Then he gave his good friend Leonardo some of his new artworks. According to the art news outlet Artsy, they reported that quote, Low had decided to gift a few works, the nine point two million baskat brought from Namad and the three point two million picasso from the Monaco Art Dealer, along with a Diane Arbus photo purchase for seven hundred fifty thousand dollars all to one person, the handwritten note said D,ear Leonardo DiCaprio, happy belated birthday. This gift is for you . Creepy. Happy Belated Birthday. Happy Birthday evening to me. Oh, dear Leonardo DiCaprio, you're so close. Dear Leonardo DiCaprielle . I laughed at that one when I read it too . So at this point, not longer after this, it's now the start of twenty fourteen and Jo Lo begins to date the Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr. Okay. And naturally, he was quite generous with her as he was with all his close friend s. No, I don't know. So for Valentine's Day, Joe ordered a diamond necklace worth roughly two million dollars be created, custom for her, and then hand delivered to Ker. And for Kerr's birthday, which was just a short time after Valentine's Day, Jo Lo created a nineties themed night and for that he paid Salt and Peppa and Vanilla Ice to perform at her birthday party. Oh no L,eonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Fox were at the party. Jamie's not missing any of this. Appreciate he vanished. It was apparently an epic night. Oh . In my experience, I'm always suspicious of someone who wants to hire vanilla ice to perform because just seems like a red flag total red flag ninety night vanilla ice. And I'm really disappointed in salt and pepper but I mean they got bills. They got bills, yeah, you know. Yeah. So you know what Elizabeth I forgot to tell you about was Jo Low also gave K aner enormous see through , one hundred percent translucent grand piano around the same time. Oh my god This piano was so big that contractors had to build new walls around the piano once they got it into place in her Hollywood Hills Mansion. So they knocked down walls, they put in the piano, they built new walls. I this is just obscene. Yeah. This is obscene. And ridiculous, like, what they're doing with the money. I'm like, you bought a translucent piano. Obscene. Why? Have you ever seen one? No, who cares ? Now you may be wondering, didn't any of these Hollywood veterans and supermodels suspect that Jo Lo wase buying their friendship , their time, their romance. Didn't they see them? He was basically love bombing them? Yeah, they know, they don't care. No, at the time, the only person who seemed to see Jolo for the criminal he was his fellow con man, the OG Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Bowl. Yeah, takes one to know one. He knew Lo was from the word go . For instance, when he first met Joe Lo in Aziz, he told his girlfriend, these guys are criminals. Wow. One day meets the first time meeting this is Reed. Yeah. As Belfort later recalled, quote, they flew me to Connes for four or five months after they bought the movie and they wanted to announce it in Connes. It hadn't even gone into production yet. And they threw a launch party. They must have spent three million dollars on the launch party. They flew in Kanye West, and I said to Anne, this is a scam. Anybody who does this is stolen money. You wouldn't spend money you worked for like that. That's a really good point . Always assume criminals when you're doing a read like this. Isn't that truth? Drag queens and criminals like this. I will listen to those are freedom for Jordan . Soothsayers At one point, Belfort turned down half a million dollars of Lowe's free money he was throwing around as Belfort tells it, quote, So then the movie goes into production and I'm spending a lot of time with Leo and these guys wanted to meet me for dinner and they wanted me to go to Vegas with Leo. They offered me money and everything to go to Vegas , a lot of money, like five hundred thousand dollars, which I really could have used. I was like, I can't do it. Leo went, Margot went, that's Margot Robbie. Oh my God. So why didn't Jordan Belfort take the easy money like everyone else? Fantastic question. Well, as we've established, he knew better. Let's leave it to him to explain, as he put it, quote, I refuse to go. And because of that, I'm not mentioned in the articles. I've learned my lesson. It's all red gran ite. They tried to offer me money and give me things. I never even spoke to these guys. I was like, I don't need these people. I knew it. It was so obvious. Yeah. So he's like, that's dirty money. I don't want no part of it. Yeah. Yeah, he's got to sustain me in the future. I'm looking out for future joy. Well and he's had his brushes. He doesn't need to go back to want to get tared with that brush of crime again . Anyway, it was this point obvious to those with eyes to look , you know, but apparently not obvious to everyone like Leonard DiCaprio, Jamie Fox , and many others. Okay, let's take another little break and after these messages we'll hear how Jo Lo was brought low once some other clear eyed folks take a look at the mountain of evidence of corruption, fraud, embezzlement, and outright theft. Back in two and two Meet Chris. He's handy with tools and tech and likes earning extra income on his own terms. With AirTasker, he chooses which tasks he wants , when to work, and names his price. Download the AirTasker app, or go to airtasker. com AirTasker get anything done . I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything It's the ragebate . It feels like it's trying to divide people . We got clear facts. Maybe we can calm down a little . NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News , reporting for America . Mom, can I have Lingo kids? Seth Lingo kids. Please. When did we become the Lingo Kids house? No idea. Last week it was dinosaurs. This week was Lingo kids. Why lingo kids? Because it's the best thing ever. People are gay. What's astronauts, wild animals and superheroes. With more than four thousand interactive games, songs, and shows, Lingo Kids is the number one entertainment platform for young kids. So no dinosaurs? And dinosaurs. Everything kids love. Download it for free. This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. This podcast is sponsored by Veracity. Welcome to an all natural way to slim down get energized and sharpen your focus . Veracity is revolutionizing health by tackling the root cause of so many issues. With Veracity's drug free, clinically proven and doctor formulated solutions, you can support your body's needs to live your healthiest life. If your goal is weight loss, try metabolism Ignite, the number one doctor recommended GLP one booster and GLP one alternative. Metabolism Ignite has sold out ten times for a reason. No side effects, no allergens. Metabolism Ignite is a natural, safe, plant based aid that results in an eighty five percent reduction in hunger and is clinically proven to lose, on average, nine pounds in ninety days. days. And metabolism Ignite is safe for everyone, including breastfeeding new moms and women in perimenopause. So before metabolism Ignite sells out again, make the switch to GLP ones the natural way. Head to Veracityhealth. com and use code iHart for up to sixty five percent off your order. Once again that's V R A CI TY Health . co for up to sixty five percent off and make sure you use my promo code IHART . A lot of wellness routines start with motivation and end somewhere between week two and a half used supplement draw. Gruens was created to make daily nutrition simpler. Instead of pills or chalky green drinks, Gruns packed over twenty essential vitamins and minerals, greens and prebiotics into a snack pack of delicious gummies. It feels approachable and not demanding. The convenient comprehensive formula supports gut health, beauty, energy, immunity, recovery, and cogn ition in one daily habit. Grunes contain six grams of fiber which is more than two cups of broccoli, and the ingredients in Gruns are backed by thirty five thousand research publications , which is part of what makes the formula so intentional. Grunes is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, and made without artificial colours or flavours. Plus it's methylated, so key nutrients like B twelve and folate are informs your body can actually use. It's comprehensive nutrition designed for routines you can actually stick with. Get up to fifty two percent off with code cry at groons. com . That's code cry at g r ns. We're back, Elizabeth. We are back. Sorry, and I know I've hit you with a crazy cocktail of names. You know, I'm figures and dates. We're talking about all of this money flowing and how absolutely disgusting and obscene it is, the amount of money spent on ridiculous things. Yes. And then I'm remembering back to Leonardo DiCaprio lecturing everybody on Greed. Yes. And he's, you know , people don't know these guys and they're taking all this money from them This is why I don't go by anything people say only by what they do. So tricky. It just always works out. Because it's so easy to say things. So it's literally just open your mouth and exhale some air. I mean, that's how much effort it takes, but to actually have a consistent pattern of behavior, which is why I really came away from this story respecting Jordan Belford so much. That's where I am right now. I'm thinking like she turned down the money. He would not take the trips. He would not be associated with smell right and you know it. Now these other guys they know it too and deep in their hearts. Yes , and yet they're willing to overlook it. And why? I don't know. Let's ask Leo what his favorite topic is. This may be why you know at the beginning of the last century no one, really want ed actors to marry into their families. They didn't trust actresses Only recently, only when movies that came about, did we start actually talking about actors in high regard and high esteem? Before that, everyone was like, They do what for money. They lie. I don't trust them. But it's like that projection of like, oh, all these people who are so greedy . Yeah. Oh yeah, of course. Leo. Well, you know , so projection projection . Now, I gotta ask you ready to hear how criminal gravity gives a good heart tugged show ? Yes. Okay , well the credit for ending this orgy of money, fame, parties, high price gifts, it belongs to two people . One was a wronged banker, and the other was an investigative reporter. I like both. R.ight So Elizabeth Meet the first, the banker, Xavier Justo . He was a Swiss banker, but not just any old Swiss banker, he was friends with the co founder of Petro Saudi . Oh, which means he traveled to Raref ied air. For instance, Justo was friends with Tarek Obayed, who was a well connected Saudi national, real good friend of his. The two men partied together often in Geneva. This is all during the early auts, like thousand nine, two thousand eight, like, right? So at that time, according to the Guardian, Justo was quote, running a large financial services firm, Finn and four and the owner of a Geneva night spot named the platinum club. I don't trust people who are like,, o Ih party with them in fill in the blank. Yes . That's like in another country . It's like people who summer places. You don't trust that? No . And the lines you draw . But you know, I just it tells me everything I need to know. But I tell you what ? You know, honestly, even if it's like, I party with fill in the blank person at and it's in your town, I'm like, that's still You party with them . No, you go out and you like you leave the house to meet them. I mean, who does that? You go out in public? Are you kidding me? You go out and be perceived for ew . So in two thousand six, while he was doing well for himself, Justo ended up loaning his friend Tarek Obayed thirty thousand dollars. Not only that, he also let him use a desk at his financial firm, Thin Infour to start a new company called Petro Saudi. Well, then that's the other thing is if you're running with like high up Saudis got to say you don't trust it. Little shady . Well, they're not known for doing like the best things. No , there interest'sing stories that you come out of LA about the rental houses that they have, like in Beverly Hills. I used to be a house painter. And let me just tell you, you got crazy stories down in LA about like bones . Well, all the many Saudi there's like hundreds of Saudi princes. Right. So they come over and they act like a Saudi prince and they rent these mansions and we would have to go in and paint to clean up what had happened. And we're like, what happened here? And they would be like, You don't want to know. Oh yeah, it was a big bad. Oh no. So at this point, one of the co founders of Petro Saudi was a Saudi prince, prince Turkey Bin Abdullah. And Elizabeth, since you hear Bin Abdullah, it means he was the son of King Abdullah Ben Abdullah Ziz. So he was a legit Saudi prince of the late king King of Dullah. Right. Right. So he's like a real legit prince, but he didn't make it to like a crown prince. So he's like one of the many out there just spending fortunes doing whatever they want, buying up, you know, soccer teams, F one clubs, nightclubs in Vegas. They're just on this buying spree at this point in time. There have to be some who are doing good and sure people but we always hear about the yes, but on this show the other one boys are rock and roll. So Justin gets brought into this social circle of the Saudi prince and in two thousand nine, Obayed, his friend, he was on a three hundred foot mega yacht that's docked off the coast of Monaco. And on board with him are Jo Lo , Prince Turkey , and the newly elected Prime Minister Nazib of Malaysia. Yeah . So the men discuss their business investment opportunities, ways for the two oil rich nations to invest their petrodolar. I told you about that ear lier . And by this point, Jo Lo and the Prime Minister, they have created the Wealth Fund, the one MDB. And so the Prime Minister was the chairman of the board of that. Jo Lo was an unofficial advisor . And in that one business meeting on the Super Yacht, it spurred a wave of business deals, right? Just a bunch of stuff followed. So months after the meeting, Prime Minister Najeb travels to Saudi Arabia and there he concludes some of the deals. He signs a major deal between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The two nations they announced this new joint venture worth two point five billion dollars. Right. The men claim that Petro Saudi and one MDB would quote make strategic investments in high impact projects . That's some empty words. It's nothing. Peter and Saddy pumps one point five billion into the partnership. One MDB adds a billion of theirs, oh actually the Malaysian people's money. Right. And Elizabeth, you gu wessanna what happened next? No, you don't have to, because you already know . According to the Department of Justice's two hundred and fifty one page criminal complaint . Lowe and his associates caused seven hundred million of that one billion that was to be invested in the joint venture to be sent to an account at RBS Koutsbank in Zurich held in the name of GoodStar Limited. That was the money I told you about earlier. The seven hundred million, right? Yeah. So then later on, once again, according to the DOJ , approximately three hundred thirty million in additional funds were wired at the direction of one MDB officials to the Good Star account . So they got a cool billion dollars to play with. Unbelievable. Now, as we hear over and over again, it's not exactly easy to send that kind of money around, right? Yeah. Because it generates paper trails. And then also you have compliance officers at international banks and they have to personally sign off on such large transfers away. Right, right , but they can be got around. Apparently everyone can. Because according to DOJ , one MDB officials represented, including to Deutsche Bank and Malaysia, that GoodStar was a wholly owned subsidiary of Petro Saud i, this was not true. According to banking records, Goodstar was a company controlled by Lowe, and Lowe was also the Goodstar account's beneficial owner and sole authorized signatory. At the time, Lowe was a twenty nine year old with no official position with a one MDB or Petro Saudi . So just give a billion dollars to our unofficial advisor. So to get around bank regulators and compliance officers, Joe Lo relied on a network of business associ ates. This still managed to set off alarm bells amongst the international bankers. Talk was going bouncing around the globe, right? Right . And as the DOJ describes it, quote, in an email dated september twenty eighth, two thousand nine , a banker at BSI in Lugano wrote, I don't like the transaction at all. In particular the role and involvement of Mr. Low Taik Joe looks and feels very suspicious to me. The joint venture then approached JP Morgan, Swiss about opening an account without disclosing the same details about the structure of the investment. The joint venture opened an account at JP Morgan Swiss on or about september thirtieth, two thousand nine. So basically they skirted money laundering and embezzlement concerns by going bank shopping. They would found a bank that would not look too closely. Right. And JP Morgan Swees was like, That's us, man. We're like to one point , when bank folks were asking pointed questions about the missing funds and loan repayment schedules , one unnamed Saudi official he claimed in a letter to bank regulators that the alleged financial improprieties quot,e should, not in any event be construed as an act of corruption, since this is against the practice of Islam, and I personally do not encourage such practices in any manner whatsoever. This is merely a personal token of appreciation of Lowe's good work in promoting in the Middle East. So this is a tip . You're like, this is a tip, man. A billion dollars. Good guy's good. Yeah. It's good. twenty nine year old have you ever partied with him? Yeah, he's really living the tenets of Islam. So now skip forward to twenty fifteen a short six years later. By then, rumors had been building everybody know . And you can only write so many letters of like, he's done good work promoting . And plus, remember, there's that Sissw bank er Justo who I mentioned earlier . Well, you see, back in two thousand nine, Xavier Justo had agreed to come to work for Obieta Petra Saudi. The friend he loaned the thirty grand to. Yeah. And for a couple of years, he watched as this Saudi national Justo once called a little brother . He made millions upon billions upon billions for himself and his business partners with the Petro Saudi one MDB money laundering scheme. Right. And then according to Justo, his friends behav'ed ior chang. Soon enough, they would get into rageful fights. Oh yeah, like lots of like, you know, shouting and fighting, right? So by March of twenty eleven, Justo opts to step away from Petro Saudi. Yeah. That took some negotiations. But in the end, Petro Saudi agreed to a severance package with Justo. The company would pay him six point five million Swiss francs. Okay . Just a bounce, right? But then after they came to terms, Petro Saudi was like, You know what? I don't like that deal. So they informed Justo, we'll actually give you four million Swiss francs. Trouble was, Justo still had access to the Petro Saudi servers. So he downloaded all of the data he could and he hung onto it, waiting for the right moment to get his revenge. Finally of September of twenty thirteen, Justo decided it was time to get his revenge and get the money owed to him. So he sends an email to Petro Saudi. He tells him, I got gigabytes of evidence of criminal conspiracy to embezzle billions , so you're going to pay me my money. Yeah. This led to get this, Elizabeth, a furious exchange of emails, they went back and forth, insulting each other, threatening each other. I love a good email fight. Totally. At one point, a rep from Petro Saudi warned Justo that quote, what troubles me so much is the way in which I see this situation ending with the destruction of you in a look at that in print. Yes. So that tore. That pushed Justo to share what he knew and all the data he had. And he chose to go to an intrep id environmental reporter. Ah . Elizabeth meets the second person, Claire Rucastle Brown. Hello, Claire. So normally, she'd be the sort of person that Leonardo DiCaprio would like and esteem and invite to a charity auction, right? How old was she? Well, a good point. She was a retired British journalist. Oh, yeah, no, not gonna happen. Who'd move back to Malaysia, where she'd spent the early years of her life, and she wanted to return to that tropical existence . Even though she missed London, she was like, I really miss Malaysia. Right. So when she gets back to Malaysia, she finds that it's not what she remembers. There's an active bit of deforestation going. She's like, you're savaging the environment, this beautiful place, this is oasis. So as a retired journalist, you know, she does what she does best. She puts her journalism hat back on, she starts calling attention to the issue . So she starts a blog. She starts reporting on the corruption and the malfeeds and she finds and she keeps digging and digg ing until she finally reaches the Prime Minister of Malaysia. She's just gonna blog it out. She's like, this goes right to the top . In an interview with Fraud Magazine, which by the way stop we need a subscription to fraud magazine. Fraud magazine. Yeah. RuCastle Brown. Fraud magazine. I think it's a British outlet. They said Ruecastle Brown told Fraud Magazine and I quote, I was following a strand that concerned me about what was going on and how our global systems were being managed to the enormous disadvantage of people in the environment and what appeared to be a very dodgy practice. Of course what I found is every time I uncovered the corruption I was just getting higher and higher. The reason why nothing was being done about any of these appalling actions was because the corruption went right to the top . Thanks to her independent diligence, people began to leak info to her for her reporting. Right. And one of those people was Xavier Justo. Oh , who had plenty of evidence share with the investigative reporter that went right to the top.