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2. RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DELAY IN DOJ SUITS OVER 1MDB-LINKED ASSETS
3. RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DOJ'S PROPOSED PAUSE ON 1MDB SUITS
2. RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DELAY IN DOJ SUITS OVER 1MDB-LINKED ASSETS
3. RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DOJ'S PROPOSED PAUSE ON 1MDB SUITS
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FEDS FACE RESISTANCE IN BID TO DELAY 1MDB FORFEITURE CASES FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Schwartz adds that the government's request is "without precedent" and a violation of his clients' due process rights.
REPORTED BY THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
('Feds Face Resistance in Bid to Delay 1MDB Forfeiture Cases for Criminal Investigation.' – The Hollywood Reporter, August 29, 2017)The financier of Wolf of Wall Street and others whose assets have been tied up as part of a U.S. government crackdown on foreign corruption are slamming a proposed delay in the 1MDB forfeiture cases.Earlier this month, federal prosecutors explained the need to pause civil litigation. With claims being made on assets including Hollywood films, a catalogue of EMI songs, a Picasso painting once given to Leonardo DiCaprio, real estate in Beverly Hills, London and New York, and more, the feds sought permission to prioritize their ongoing criminal investigation into an alleged conspiracy to launder money misappropriated from a Malaysian public fund.Prosecutors wrote that a stay is warranted "because proceeding with civil discovery will have an obvious adverse effect on the related criminal investigation.... Any disclosures by the government beyond those in the complaint will reveal details of the underlying investigation to which the potential targets and subjects are not entitled."
Red Granite, which provided funding for such films as Wolf of Wall Street, Dumb and Dumber To, and Daddy's Home, has been in settlement talks with the U.S. government over claims those films were funded by corruption."Red Granite remains hopeful that its role in these cases will be resolved, and that there will be no need to litigate this action," the company states in a brief opposing the delay. "In the event that a negotiated resolution is not imminent, however, Red Granite has a strong interest in clearing its name promptly."Matthew Schwartz, a partner at Boies Schiller who is representing Red Granite, expands on the opposition in several of the other 1MDB cases.He writes that no discovery requests have yet been made on the government and that "it is difficult to imagine how any investigation could be harmed by disclosure of the underlying evidence."Schwartz adds that the government's request is "without precedent" and a violation of his clients' due process rights. He'd prefer to move forward with jurisdictional challenges and the primary defense that his clients are merely downstream recipients of funds and represent an innocent owner of assets. The attorney also notes how the government's investigation has been on the front pages for nearly two years now with the government holding press conferences, issuing press releases and possibly leaking details to the media.He's not alone in voicing objection.The attorney representing a trust called JW Nile (BVI) Ltd., which is tied to the family of a Malaysian financier named Jho Low, is also in court over a stake in EMI Music Publishing, whose assets include Police's "Every Breath You Take", The Temptations' "My Girl" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".JW Nile fought hard for the opportunity to oppose the government's seizure."First, the Government paralyzed Claimants’ original trustees from filing claims by insinuating that the mere filing of claims could lead to criminal liability and refusing to dispel that notion," writes attorney Jeremy Matz at Bird Marella. "Next, the Government spent many months trying to thwart Claimants from appearing in the case in order to protect their assets, claiming that permitting Claimants to do so would delay and hinder the discovery process on which the Government said it was so eager to embark. These efforts included the Government’s attempt to block Claimants from filing claims through the appointment of new trustees. The Government claimed that allowing such claims would 'delay this Court’s proceedings' and hinder the Government’s ability to pursue discovery."Matz then moves in for his most cutting remark."Now, the Government’s effort to indefinitely stay all discovery — and almost everything else about this case too — exposes the reality that the Government has no interest in exchanging information with Claimants, respecting Claimants’ substantive and procedural rights, or moving this case forward at all towards a resolution," he writes. "It is now apparent that the Government was crying wolf about potential delays in discovery in order to bolster its efforts to win by default without presenting its case on the merits."The government has suggested it is prepared to privately show information about its criminal investigation to the judge in order to win a delay. That could be the next step when prosecutors reply.
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1. FEDS FACE RESISTANCE IN BID TO DELAY 1MDB FORFEITURE CASES FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
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3. RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DOJ'S PROPOSED PAUSE ON 1MDB SUITS
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RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DELAY IN DOJ SUITS OVER 1MDB-LINKED ASSETS
Lawyers for Hollywood production company behind Wolf of Wall Street, say company wants to clear its name promptly.
REPORTED BY FREE MALAYSIA TODAY
PETALING JAYA, AUGUST 29, 2017 –
Red Granite Pictures Inc has joined other parties in questioning the move of the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) to put on hold civil forfeiture lawsuits against assets purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
The Hollywood Reporter (THR), in an article yesterday, said the financier of the Oscar-nominated Wolf of Wall Street was already in discussions with the DoJ over the source of funds for a few of its projects.
“Red Granite remains hopeful that its role in these cases will be resolved, and that there will be no need to litigate this action.
“In the event that a negotiated resolution is not imminent, however, Red Granite has a strong interest in clearing its name promptly,” the company stated in a brief opposing the delay, according to the showbiz industry publication.
On August 10, DoJ officials asked a judge in Los Angeles to put on hold civil forfeiture lawsuits for fear it would interfere with a criminal investigation into alleged money laundering involving the funds in question.
An FBI agent had warned in the court filing that information disclosed in the civil cases may reveal “potential targets and subjects of the investigation and the investigative techniques that have been and will be used in the investigation”.
A lawyer for Red Granite however said that no discovery requests have yet been made by the DoJ and that “it is difficult to imagine how any investigation could be harmed by disclosure of the underlying evidence”.
Aside from the Wolf of Wall Street, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio and was directed by Martin Scorsese, other movies which were said to be funded with money linked to 1MDB are Daddy’s Home, starring Will Ferrell, and Dumb and Dumber To (Jim Carrey).
Red Granite lawyer Matthew Schwartz also said that the DoJ’s request was “without precedent and a violation of his clients’ due process rights”.
On Monday, it was reported that the other parties who stood to lose various assets in the DoJ’s civil suits argued that the US government had tried to keep the claimants from appearing in the case for many months in an attempt to secure forfeiture of the properties by default.
The three sets of documents dated September 18, had appeared in the California Central District Court’s electronic court system on Monday.
The three motions are for the DoJ’s suit seeking the forfeiture of the Viceroy L’Ermitage Beverly Hills property, a separate suit for all business assets related to the property, and a third suit seeking the forfeiture of royalties owed by EMI Music Publishing Group North America Holdings Inc to JW Nile (BVI) Ltd, JCL Media Ltd, and/or Jynwel Capital Ltd.
All three were filed by the same group of lawyers.
Jynwel Capital is a Hong Kong-based company owned by Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low.
The lawyers for the parties involved argued that the DoJ’s request was unconstitutional and “improperly broad”.
“The government’s overbroad and extraordinary request for a stay of indeterminate duration, during which time the defendant’s assets would remain in limbo, should be denied,” the lawyers said in the filings.
They too wanted the DoJ to prove how the investigation process and other actions taken under the civil suit, would affect investigations or prosecution. The lawyers also wanted the stay on proceedings to be time-limited instead of indefinite as it was now.
In court filings in California, in June, the DoJ said it was seeking to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets including art works, jewellery, a yacht worth US$165 million, and film rights purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
It followed the civil forfeiture suit by the DoJ in July last year, which sought to recover all the assets including but not limited to the Park Lane hotel in New York, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, condominiums in New York, a private jet, expensive works of art, aside from the movies.
The total value of the assets sought by the DoJ stands at US$1.8 billion (RM7.7 billion).('Red Granite Opposes Delay in DoJ Suits over 1MDB-Linked Assets.' – Free Malaysia Today, August 29, 2017)
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1. FEDS FACE RESISTANCE IN BID TO DELAY 1MDB FORFEITURE CASES FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
2. RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DELAY IN DOJ SUITS OVER 1MDB-LINKED ASSETS
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RELATED: RED GRANITE OPPOSES DOJ'S PROPOSED PAUSE ON 1MDB SUITS
REPORTED BY MALAYSIAKINI
Red Granite Pictures Inc has filed a motion opposing the proposed delay in the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) 1MDB-linked civil forfeiture suits.
The motion, filed by the company’s legal counsel Matthew Schwartz, argued that "the government has not demonstrated that discovery will adversely affect any ongoing investigation."
"Claimant (Red Granite) should not have to wait any longer to clear its name. These cases have been pending for over a year and the government’s underlying investigation has been ongoing, according to press reports, for at least two.
“(Red Granite) has a strong interest in defending this action and regaining the unfettered use of its property.
“But instead, based on the assertion that discovery 'will have an adverse effect' on the investigation, the government now seeks to stay these cases indefinitely,” the court documents sighted by Malaysiakini read...(continued in subscription).('Red Granite Opposes DoH's Proposed Pause on 1MDB Suits.' – Malaysiakini, August 30, 2017)
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The NINE QUESTION Blog will return with more facts.
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