Authorities Ask Questions About Jho Low

Jho Low has been a prominent art buyer of late, including setting the record for Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Dust Heads with a $49m buy. Now the Wall Street Journal reports he may be in facing some trouble:

Malaysian authorities have received information about the accounts of a young Malaysian financier as part of a probe into allegations of misallocation of money from a controversial state investment fund overseen by Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to documents related to the probe.

More than $500 million in accounts belonging to Jho Low, a Malaysian financier in his early 30s who helped set up 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, were the subject of correspondence in March between Singapore’s police and Malaysia’s central bank, which had asked Singapore for help investigating the fund.

Mr. Najib, who is chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers, launched the fund in 2009 to boost growth, but today it is facing multiple government investigations and struggling under an $11 billion debt load.

Mr. Low previously has denied wrongdoing and has said he never had a formal position at 1MDB, characterizing his role as an occasional adviser.

Malaysian Financier Tied to Inquiry Into 1MDB  (WSJ)