Jho Low, Fugitive Behind 1MDB Scandal, Seeks Pardon From Trump
Malaysian financier recently submitted a pardon request, some 10 years after he disappeared amid a $4.5 billion scandal
By AnnaMaria Andriotis and C. Ryan Barber
Jho Low, in 2014. J. Countess/Getty ImagesJho Low, the alleged mastermind of one of the greatest financial frauds in history, is asking President Trump for a pardon.
The request was filed in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, and if granted would remove U.S. criminal charges against the fugitive Malaysian financier.
A Justice Department website lists a pending request for a “Pardon after Completion of Sentence” under Taek Jho Low that was filed this year.
As with all requests, Low’s chances of a pardon will ultimately rest with Trump and a team of legal advisers.
A White House official said Low’s request wasn’t currently on the White House’s radar.
The move represents the latest gambit in the extraordinary saga of Low, a once little-known businessman who, prosecutors say, used subterfuge, fake documents and payoffs to engineer the heist of billions of dollars from 1MDB, a Malaysian government-owned investment vehicle set up to promote economic growth.
Low’s lavish lifestyle—partying with Hollywood stars and political rulers—turned him into a symbol of global graft when it was alleged he stole his fortune.
Several involved in the 1MDB theft, including Swiss and Singaporean bankers and the former prime minister of Malaysia, have spent time in jail.
A Goldman Sachs partner who worked closely with Low received a two-year sentence last year, and another bank executive was earlier given a 10-year sentence.
Goldman paid more than $5 billion in penalties to the U.S. and Malaysia related to its role.
Since he has been on the run, Low has never stood trial or served a sentence.
He has previously denied wrongdoing.
Low directed 1MDB to borrow billions of dollars on the back of the Malaysian government then oversaw a scheme to steal $4.5 billion he used to pay off political patrons, snap up luxury real estate, fine art and a $250 million superyacht, and finance the Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” according to the Justice Department.
The case, and his disappearance sometime around 2016, have remained a matter of interest across the globe, with countries including the U.S. and Malaysia seeking to recoup funds and apprehend Low.
It is thought he has been in China.
In Trump’s first term, Low had hired lawyers viewed as close to Trump.
One of his contacts, Fugees member Pras Michel, was later sentenced to prison after being convicted of charges including illegally lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of Low and improperly funneling donations to then-President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012.
Trump has expanded his use of the pardon in his second term, including for white-collar crimes.
He pardoned Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange; Trevor Milton, convicted of defrauding investors in truck maker Nikola; and Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the crypto-fueled black market Silk Road.
The president’s apparent willingness has led some to launch open campaigns for clemency.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted head of crypto exchange FTX, has been seeking one.
Trump has publicly indicated he had no intention of granting that pardon.
Low’s latest efforts to clear himself of criminal charges and an international manhunt have been under way for more than a year, people familiar with the matter said.
In his request for the pardon, Low told U.S. authorities that he can help make deals happen.
He took some credit for a recent agreement in which Malaysia returned to the U.S. a Bangladeshi man accused of operating a child sexual-exploitation enterprise, an issue that high-ranking U.S. officials in the Biden and Trump administrations had been working on, the people said.
Low’s claim surprised some in Malaysia, who said he had nothing to do with the transfer, one person said.
Low has been in talks with U.S. and Malaysian authorities about returning hundreds of millions of dollars tied to the 1MDB fraud, the people said.
Those funds would go to the U.S. Justice Department, which would determine how much would be sent to other countries that were affected by the fraud, including Malaysia, the people said.
Returning money, properties and investments linked to 1MDB would help end proceedings against Low related to asset forfeitures, the people said.
In 2019, he surrendered more than $700 million in assets—including properties in Beverly Hills, New York and London—in a civil forfeiture settlement with U.S. authorities.
That deal, and a similar one struck in 2024, didn’t absolve him of criminal liability.
A pardon would remove that liability.
Malaysia temporarily lifted its Interpol red notice on Low that would make him subject to arrest almost anywhere in the world, to facilitate the return of significant assets to the country, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move didn’t wipe out Low’s criminal liability in Malaysia.
Red notices from other countries, including the U.S., remained in place.
AnnaMaria Andriotis is lead financial reporter for The Wall Street Journal, with a particular focus on private credit and private equity including firms such as Apollo, Blackstone and Brookfield. She previously covered Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and prior to that reported on the credit-card industry, including Visa, Mastercard and American Express and the big banks' credit-card divisions. For more than a decade, she covered consumer lending broadly, with a focus on how lenders underwrote loans and borrowers' ability to repay them.
AnnaMaria's deep-dive reporting on internal company practices has included stories on the lack of women in Goldman's highest ranks, the unraveling of Goldman's consumer-lending ambitions, and breakdowns in vetting and anti-money laundering procedures within Morgan Stanley's wealth-management division. From 2020 to 2022, AnnaMaria wrote a series of articles on misleading sales practices at American Express that led to federal investigations and settlements paid by the company.
She has been a reporter with the Journal since 2014 and got her start reporting at Dow Jones in 2006.
AnnaMaria was part of teams that won Columbia Journalism School's WERT Global Prize for a series on the World Economic Forum’s toxic workplace culture that triggered investigations and led to the exit of the WEF's founder, a New York Press Club award for coverage of the 2023 regional banking crisis, a Sabew award for reporting on First Republic's failure, finalist for the Gerald Loeb Awards for coverage of the regional banking crisis and a Sabew honorable mention for coverage of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on consumers' finances.
C. Ryan Barber is a reporter in The Wall Street Journal's Washington, D.C. bureau, where he covers the Justice Department and legal affairs. Prior to joining the Journal, Ryan reported on the Justice Department and federal law enforcement for Insider and the National Law Journal.
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