Malaysia's State-Owned Investment Fund, Ex-Unit Sue to Recoup Billions

Malaysia’s state-owned 1MDB investment fund and a former unit have filed nearly two dozen civil lawsuits seeking $23 billion in assets allegedly looted from the two entities.

In a statement Monday, the finance ministry said 1MDB has filed six lawsuits against 25 people and nine entities, including two foreign financial institutions. The ministry says 1MDB’s former subsidiary, SRC International, has filed 16 lawsuits against 15 people and eight entities. The ministry did not identify the targets. Malaysia recovered nearly $5 billion in assets last August after settlement deals with U.S.-based investment firm Goldman Sachs, Malaysian banking group AmBank and audit firm Deloitte related to the 1MDB scandal. Malaysian and U.S. authorities allege that at least $4.5 billion was looted from 1MDB as part of a wide-ranging embezzlement scheme involving former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who created the fund in 2009, and several cronies.