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Quick answers
What was 1MDB?
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.
The public investigation is journalism first, then parallel civil and criminal work in several countries.
This page records those official and press steps. It does not describe how to hide a transfer or how to buy an asset with diverted funds.
Agencies
- Sarawak Report / Wall Street Journal — Published the 2015 document investigations that made 1MDB a global English-language enforcement target.
- U.S. Department of Justice (Kleptocracy) — Filed civil forfeiture complaints from 2016 and resolved banker and bank cases, including the 2020 Goldman package.
- Malaysian Attorney General / MACC — Charged Najib and others after 2018; obtained the 2020 SRC conviction and pursued additional 1MDB-related dockets.
- Other financial centers — Singapore, Switzerland, and others opened related bank and asset cases that fed the same recovery story.
What followed
- Document leaks to the press
2015 publications compared fund statements with bank trails and luxury-asset purchases.
- Foreign civil actions
DOJ forfeiture complaints listed specific property and alleged the theft-and-laundering theory in U.S. court.
- Banker cooperation
Leissner's 2018 plea gave prosecutors an insider account of the bond and bribery story.
- Malaysian charges after 2018
A new government charged Najib; the SRC trial produced a 2020 written judgment.
- Bank resolutions
The 2020 Goldman settlements closed the principal Wall Street corporate file for a stated dollar amount.
- Appeals and remaining fugitive work
The Federal Court affirmed SRC in 2022. International notices regarding Jho Low remained outstanding.
Turning points
- The 2015 publications — Once the Journal and Sarawak Report printed the account trails, 1MDB was no longer only a domestic Malaysian dispute.
- The 2018 election and Leissner plea — A change of government plus a Goldman partner's admission opened both the KL criminal path and the New York cooperation path.
- 28 July 2020 — The SRC guilty verdict made 'convicted' the correct status token for the political principal, independent of the U.S. civil file.
After-the-fact investigators followed published documents into forfeiture and trial. The remaining hunt is for a named fugitive, not for whether SRC happened.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.