1Malaysia Development Berhad became a global kleptocracy case after 2015 reporting. U.S. and Malaysian courts later recorded convictions, pleas, and multi-billion-dollar recoveries.
Also called: 1Malaysia Development Berhad · Najib Razak case
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was a Malaysian state-owned development fund created in 2009 from a Terengganu vehicle. By 2015, Sarawak Report and the Wall Street Journal were publishing documents that tied enormous outflows to Jho Low (Low Taek Jho), to accounts associated with then-prime minister Najib Razak, and to a set of Goldman Sachs bond offerings in 2012-2013.
The U.S. Department of Justice, through its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, filed civil forfeiture complaints from 2016 alleging that more than $3.5 billion -- later described as on the order of $4.5 billion -- had been diverted from 1MDB. Those complaints named Hollywood financing (including Red Granite Pictures and The Wolf of Wall Street), yachts, jewelry, and real estate as alleged proceeds. Goldman Sachs later paid about $2.9 billion in 2020 to resolve U.S. and other government actions; former Goldman partner Tim Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018.
In Malaysia, the High Court convicted Najib on 28 July 2020 on seven counts in the SRC International case (a 1MDB-related unit), including abuse of power and money laundering, and imposed twelve years' imprisonment and a fine. The Federal Court upheld the conviction on 23 August 2022. Jho Low remained a fugitive in the public record into the mid-2020s. Later Malaysian pardon and house-arrest developments changed custody conditions; they did not erase the 2020 judgment as a recorded conviction.
Break year2015 reporting
PlaceMalaysia / global
U.S. theoryKleptocracy (DOJ)
Najib SRCGuilty (2020)
Goldman (2020)~$2.9B settlements
StatusConvicted
Dossier scores
Notoriety 78
Mystery 30
Scale 90
Evidence 75
Legal impact 70
Culture 65
Notoriety
78
Mystery
30
Scale
90
Evidence
75
Legal impact
70
Culture
65
What the 1MDB record actually shows
The DOJ forfeiture complaints, the Goldman resolutions, the Leissner plea, and the Malaysian SRC judgment are the primary public sources. They describe a multi-jurisdiction theft-and-laundering case, not a single missing invoice.
A fund, bonds, and a fixer
1MDB raised money, including through Goldman-arranged dollar bonds in 2012 and 2013, for a development-fund story. Journalists and later prosecutors described a parallel story: large transfers to shell companies and to people around Jho Low.
Najib, as prime minister and finance minister at key times, was the political principal in the Malaysian docket. The SRC International trial that produced the 2020 conviction concerned hundreds of millions of ringgit in a related unit, not every dollar in the DOJ complaints.
2015 as the public break
Sarawak Report and the Journal, using leaked documents and bank trails, made the fund a global English-language story in 2015. Malaysian official responses at the time included a claimed Saudi donation to explain money in Najib's accounts -- a theory later courts and foreign complaints did not accept as a full answer.
The 2015 reporting is the hinge the way Carreyrou is for Theranos: after it, foreign prosecutors and banks had a public map.
U.S. civil forfeiture and bank pleas
DOJ's 2016 and later complaints are among the largest kleptocracy actions the department has filed. They sought to forfeit specific assets, not to try Najib in a U.S. criminal court. Settlements returned value to Malaysia over subsequent years.
Leissner's 2018 guilty plea and the 2020 Goldman resolutions (including a U.S. FCPA-related package near $2.9 billion with other jurisdictions) are the Wall Street legal ending. Roger Ng, another former Goldman banker, was convicted in Brooklyn in 2022 on FCPA and money-laundering counts.
Kuala Lumpur's criminal core
The SRC case is the conviction this atlas records under status 'convicted' for the political principal. Other Malaysian 1MDB-related trials and charges continued on separate indictments.
Jho Low's absence is the remaining manhunt fact. It does not make the SRC judgment or the Goldman plea an open mystery.
1Malaysia Development Berhad was a Malaysian state-owned development fund established in 2009. U.S. and Malaysian proceedings later described large diversions from the fund and related units, including SRC International.
When did the scandal become public?
Sarawak Report and the Wall Street Journal published major document-based stories in 2015. The U.S. DOJ filed civil forfeiture complaints in 2016. Those years are the public break, not the start of the underlying transfers.
What was Najib Razak convicted of?
On 28 July 2020 the High Court in Kuala Lumpur convicted him on seven SRC International counts, including abuse of power, criminal breach of trust, and money laundering. The sentence was twelve years and a fine of RM210 million. The Federal Court affirmed on 23 August 2022.
Did the United States convict Najib?
No. The U.S. case most often cited is civil forfeiture of alleged proceeds, plus criminal cases against bankers (Leissner plea; Ng conviction). Najib's recorded criminal conviction in this atlas is the Malaysian SRC judgment.
What did Goldman Sachs pay?
In 2020 Goldman announced resolutions with the United States and other governments totaling about $2.9 billion, plus arrangements to return value related to 1MDB. Tim Leissner had pleaded guilty in 2018.
Who is Jho Low?
Low Taek Jho, a Malaysian financier, is described in DOJ complaints as a central intermediary. He was not in custody in the mid-2020s public record and is treated as a fugitive in those papers.
How much money was diverted?
DOJ public statements have used figures above $3.5 billion and later about $4.5 billion diverted from 1MDB. Those are complaint and press-office figures, dated to the filings, not a single audited line that never moved.
What about later house arrest or pardons?
Malaysian clemency and custody changes after 2022 affected how the SRC sentence was served. They do not delete the 2020 conviction from the public record. Readers should check the latest official custody notice for confinement status.