THE US administration has filed a civil suit in a bid to seize an artwork by famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, which it claimed was purchased by former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in-house lawyer Jasmine Loo using US$1.3 million (RM6.04 million) misappropriated from 1MDB, the Malay Mail reported.

It wants to forfeit Pablo Picasso’s pencil on paper drawing known as “Trois Femmes Nues et Buste D’Homme”, as well as all the funds and assets in a Swiss bank account held under the name of Loo’s Glen Vine Partners Limited. 

It said both the artwork and the money in the Glen Vine bank account were bought in New York in 2014 with money either unlawfully diverted from 1MDB or which can be traced back to the Malaysian sovereign investment company’s funds. 

The US government said 1MDB subsidiary 1MDB Global Investments Limited (GIL) had taken on debts by issuing a US$3 billion (RM13.94 billion) bond in March 2013, and claimed that funds misappropriated from this 1MDB bond sale were used by Loo to buy the Pablo Picasso drawing in 2014.

Money originating from the US$3 billion bond flowed from 1MDB GIL through several accounts before eventually reaching Loo’s personal bank account, the US government said.

The alleged money flows originating from 1MDB GIL included a US$6 million sent in July 2013 to the BSI Bank, Singapore account of Springbrook Global Limited, which the US government said is beneficially owned by Loo.

According to the US court filing, Loo allegedly transferred US$1.9 million on May 7, 2014 from the Springbrook account to her personal account at BSI Bank in Singapore.

It said the Christie’s Auction House in New York had on May 13, 2014 given Loo an invoice for the Pablo Picasso drawing, with total sales price including tax being US$1,377,268.75.

“On or about June 24, 2014, Loo transferred approximately US$1,377,293 from her personal account at BSI Bank in Singapore to an account at Christie’s to complete her purchase of the drawing,” the US government said.

As for the Glen Vine account, the US government said Loo had set up the company in the British Virgin Islands in October 2014 with Loo being the company’s sole beneficial owner, and that she had in November 2014 opened a bank account at Falcon Bank in Switzerland for Glen Vine Partners.

The US government claimed that Loo had on April 7, 2015 transferred US$1.25 million in misappropriated 1MDB funds traceable to Deutsche Bank loans borrowed by a 1MDB subsidiary in 2014 into the Glen Vine account at Falcon Bank.

All the funds in the Glen Vine account at Falcon Bank are now in a new account at the Swiss bank which took over Falcon Bank, with the current balance being about US$432,203.01. The bank which acquired Falcon Bank is known as the “ONE Swiss Bank”, and this is the bank where the funds which the US government is seeking to forfeit are located.

According to the US court filing, Loo was described as having served as 1MDB’s general counsel and executive director of group strategy at least during the years 2012 and 2013, and was a main point of contact between 1MDB and investment bank Goldman Sachs for three bonds issued by 1MDB companies in 2012 and 2013.

Loo, who was 1MDB’s in-house lawyer, was arrested by Malaysian police in early July after years outside the country to escape the law.

Her lawyers saying that her surrender was voluntary and that she would cooperate with 1MDB investigations and help Malaysia recover assets from 1MDB.

Former prime minister Najib Razak is currently on trial over RM2.28 billion of misappropriated 1MDB funds alleged to have entered his personal bank accounts from 2011 to 2014 and with hearing set to resume on September 18, with the prosecution saying Loo could potentially be called as a prosecution witness in the trial. –  September 1, 2023.