Independent financial investigators in the British Virgin Islands filed suit against Swizz Beatz in an attempt to recover $7.3 million they claim the celebrity music producer and art collector accepted from international fugitive Jho Low — who authorities seek in an alleged $7.65 billion scam that ensnared a former Malaysian prime minister.
The suit, filed Oct. 2 in the Southern District of New York, where Beatz — aka Kasseem Dean — has his bank account, alleges Low and associate Eric Tan illegally funneled money from the Malaysian investment firm 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, known as 1MDB, to various shell companies. Two such companies were Affinity Equity International Partners Limited and Alsen Chance Holdings Limited, which existed only on paper in Tortola, according to court records.
In 2010, Low began socializing with celebrities, throwing lavish parties, hosting luxury group vacations, and financing Hollywood films, the suit alleges. Some of Low’s new friends included Dean, better known by his professional name, Swizz Beatz, and Dean’s wife, the singer Alicia Keys.
From September 2012 to September 2014, Alsen Chance sent Dean and companies under his control eight transfers totaling $7.3 million without anything in return, according to court records. The first transfer, on Sept. 21, 2012, to Swizz Beatz Productions Inc., included the note “Alsen Chance investment in music production (Everyday is your Birthday).” Swizz Beatz published the song Everyday Birthday in November 2012.
Low and Malaysia’s then-prime minister, Mohb Najib bin Hj Abdul Razak Najib, founded 1MDB as an investment house to build national wealth for the Malaysian people, according to court records. In September 2009, it became a federal entity under the Malaysian Ministry of Finance, controlled by Najib.
The suit alleges Najib, as prime minister and finance minister, thwarted attempts by Malaysian authorities to investigate the company. When international investigators started their own inquiries, Low and Najib created multiple shell companies in the BVI, Barbados, and elsewhere to hide misappropriated funds, according to court records.
In 2015, when 1MDB started missing bond payments, Low and Tan disappeared. More than nine years later, their whereabouts are still unknown to authorities.
Najib, also known as Dato’ Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, fired his attorney general in a bid to avoid charges in 2015. It didn’t last. He was arrested in 2018 for illegally receiving $9.4 million, convicted in 2020, sentenced to 12 years in prison, and had the conviction upheld by an appeals court in 2022. The sentence was cut to six years in February.
BVI officials ordered the 1MDB-related shell companies closed and appointed liquidators to attempt to recover funds. The liquidators, Angela Barkhouse and Toni Shukla, said in the suit they sent correspondence to Dean and his companies, Swizz Beatz Productions and Monza Studios, Inc., in September asking for explanations of the $7.3 million payments. They received no response.
The suit alleges Dean and companies intentionally engaged in fraud and unjustly enriched themselves. They’ve asked for a jury trial.
