FUGITIVE businessman Low Taek Jho has been ordered to forfeit a set of three flawless diamonds from a jeweller whose clientele includes Beyoncé and Adele.

Bloomberg reported that a federal judge in Los Angeles yesterday instructed the broker, also known as Jho Low, to relinquish claims to a 7.35-carat diamond ring and matching three-carat diamond earrings that he had bought for his mother.

The judge ruled that they were purchased with funds looted from the 1MDB scandal. The ring is valued at about US$1.17 (RM5.4) million, and the earrings are worth about US$628,000, according to US authorities.

The diamonds were crafted by renowned New York designer Lorraine Schwartz, who is also famous for creating a US$23 million necklace with a pink diamond for Rosmah Mansor.

Last month, the Malaysian government said it would search for Low until he is found despite a recent agreement between the man and the US Justice Department.

Low remains in hiding from the US and Malaysian authorities.

In June, he agreed to a deal with the Department of Justice to return more than US$100 million in assets allegedly bought with 1MDB funds.

He faces charges alongside former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, who was convicted in New York in 2022.

In a related case, Jasmine Loo, a former lawyer for 1MDB, was ordered yesterday to forfeit a Pablo Picasso pencil sketch drawing entitled “Trois Femmes Nues et Buste d’Homme”, which she purchased for about US$1.4 million.

Loo, who was charged in Malaysia and who testified against Najib this year, also agreed to surrender US$25,000 held in a Swiss bank account, according to an order signed yesterday by Fischer. – July 23, 2024