Police hunt missing billionaire playboy who gave Miranda Kerr $9m in diamonds

POLICE are seeking missing billions and playboy Jho Low, who romanced Hollywood models, gave Miranda Kerr $9m in diamonds, and once dated Paris Hilton.

Jho Low (right) with Riza Aziz (left) and Joey McFarland at ‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’ premier in New York in 2013. Picture: Michael Loccisano.

PUDGY-faced playboy Jho Low, who romanced Hollywood starlets and gave $9 million in jewels to model Miranda Kerr, is being sought over missing billions in the Malaysian corruption scandal.

The flamboyant Malaysian mogul, who has dated models and actresses, and posed on the red carpet with Leonardo DiCaprio, has vanished from Malaysia since the scandal erupted.

Low, who made headlines trying to woo socialite Paris Hilton and staging an extravagant but failed $1.8m wedding proposal to a Taiwanese pop singer, is rumoured to be holed up in Taiwan, Bangkok, Macau or Shanghai.

Authorities have confiscated Low’s luxury yacht Equanimity — which has a gold-plated interior — while it was moored off Bali.

Indonesian police, at the behest of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) boarded the yacht, which is described as a “floating palace”, but neither Low nor several elite members of his crew were on board.

Last week, the Royal Malaysian Police seized 72 suitcases with cash, jewels and designer handbags from the home of deposed Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Model Gigi Hadid meets Jho Low at a star-studded function in 2014. Picture: Dimitrious Kambouris.

Jho Low with actor Leonardo Di Caprio at ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ premiere in Paris. Picture: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff.

Jho Low gave $9m in diamonds to Miranda Kerr. Picture: Jean-Baptiste Lacroix.

ONE TIME WEB USE ONLY - FEE APPLIES FOR REUSE - **EXCLUSIVE** Taek Jho Low, Paris Hilton. Les Caves Du Roy Nightclub. St. Tropez, France. Thursday, July 22, 2010. Photo By iSnaper.com/ CelebrityVibe.com To license this image please call [phone]; or Email: [e-mail] ;  website: www.CelebrityVibe.com There was a war of the Crystal Champagne as Paris Hilton’s new boyfriend Malaysian business man Taek Jho Low, order all the magnum champagne in stock to compete with Paris’ ex boyfriend Doug Reinhart. Doug order four Crystal Magnum, so Jho Lo order eight, and by the end of the night Doug left the club defeated and Paris invited the two girls that were dancing with Doug to her table, they danced together, and Taek Jho Low bought a bottle of Crystal champagne to every table in the club. Paris Hilton has been traveling with Jho Low on his Yacht around the Mediterranean for a week. ***CLEARED*** Picture: CelebrityVibe/BIG/Instar

Low is a personal friend and financier of Mansor, the diamond-obsessed former first lady whose ostentatious lifestyle has been widely criticised in her home country.

Low and film producer Riza Aziz, who is Mansor’s son, allegedly used plundered state money to help finance the 2013 Hollywood film, The Wolf of Wall Street.

Police on behalf of newly-elected Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad are investigating the siphoning of billions of dollars from a state-owned Malaysian investment fund, 1MDB, allegedly by Low and Razak.

On the streets of Kuala Lumpur, ordinary Malaysians have protested about Low who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the massive 1MDB scam.

Holding aloft a cardboard replica of Low’s multimillion-dollar yacht, protesters waved placards with photos of Low in a pirate’s hat and black eye patch.

It is reported that Low’s friendship with Rosmah Mansour deepened after her second husband’s 2009 election as Malaysia’s prime minister.

Jho Low’s extravagant spending and excess have made headlines since.

In 2010, he was described as Paris Hilton’s new ‘boyfriend’ as he won a “champagne duel” with the socialite’s ex-boyfriend, American baseball player Doug Reinhardt at Les Caves Du Roy Nightclub in St. Tropez, France.

Reinhart ordered four magnums of Cristal champagne for Hilton, whereupon Low ordered the remaining eight magnums left in the nightclub’s fridges and Reinhart departed.

Hilton travelled with Jho Low on his yacht around the Mediterranean for a week.

Paris Hilton and sister Nicky dance with Jho Low at a St Tropez nightclub after he wins a ‘champagne duel’ over her ex. Picture: CelebrityVibe/Big Pictures

Indonesian officials board Jho Low’s luxury ‘floating palace’ which has gold-plated interiors, as part of the corruption probe. Picture: Rully Prasetyo.

Low allegedly provided the money for jewellery acquired over the last decade by Rosmah Mansor, the South China Morning Post reported.

Mansor has been widely criticised for her expensive jewellery, designer frocks and collection of luxury handbags, including a $200,000 crocodile skin Hermes “Birkin” bag.

Born Low Taek Jho and aged in his mid-thirties, Low is the childhood friend Riza Aziz, who part-produced the 2013 Leonardo DiCaprio hit, The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese.

According to the Australian Financial Review, the US DoJ accused Aziz of using millions siphoned from 1MDB while he was the prime minister’s stepson.

The money was allegedly used to buy luxury real estate, artworks and fund his film production company, Red Granite Pictures, which also produced Dumb and Dumber To.

Police load ex-PM Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor’s stash of cash and valuables in a raid last week.

golden pearls worn by Rosmah are worth $4000 each

Rosmah and deposed PM slumped during ‘humiliating’ raid which could see Najib Razak go to prison.

It is alleged that 1MDB money bankrolled the making of Aziz’s movie about corrupt broker Jordan Belfort’s multimillion-dollar Wall Street fraud which was uncovered by the FBI.

Low and Aziz, friends since Low went to elite private boys’ school Harrow in England, share a taste for luxury.

Before he went to ground, financier Low bought a $24m penthouse in the Time Warner centre on Manhattan’s Central Park.

The apartment and an $US18 million mansion in Los Angeles were connected to Low and later sold to Aziz.

Low started dating models and appearing in New York’s gossip columns, gaining notoriety by spending extravagant sums on parties in New York and Las Vegas.

He took an interest in the Australian model Miranda Kerr after her split from actor Orlando Bloom, the father of her elder son Flynn.

The AFR reported that on Valentine’s Day, 2014, Low gave Kerr a 12-carat heart-shaped diamond, according to the US DoJ.

The US is also investigating Jho Low’s friend, Wolf of Wall Street producer Riza Aziz (left) who is pictured here with actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. Picture: Paul Hackett.

Malaysia’s former First Lady Rosmah Mansor’s designer handbag collection (above) was seized last week by police.

Kerr cruised on Equanimity with Low, who also gave her an 11-carat pair of diamond earrings, a matching necklace, ring and bracelet and a 9-carat diamond pendant.

Kerr met billionaire Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel, now her husband, the same year.

Following an US investigation into Low, Kerr handed over Low’s jewellery — worth a total of $9m — to the US government a month after she married Spiegel in 2017.

Kerr and Spiegel now have a baby son, Hart.

Last year, Low attempted to romance Taiwanese pop singer Elva Hsiao with an elaborately- staged “surprise” proposal on the Dubai resort island Palm Jumeirah.

A video of the proposal shows the couple arriving in a Rolls Royce and strolling on a beach with a hundred candles laid out in a heart shape.

They are then served dinner by a five-star chef with their names “Jho” and “Elva” joined with a neon heart.

Parachutists descend and present the prospective bride with Swiss Chopard jewellery, and then fireworks erupt in the sky.

Unfortunately for Low, Hsiao said “no”.

The Wall Street Journal reported that after becoming prime minister, Razak gave Low control over 1MDB investment decisions.

The AFR reported that US authorities allege Low helped siphon off at least $US4.5 billion from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015.

While 1MDB denies any wrongdoing, more countries including Singapore and Switzerland are also probing the potentially massive embezzlement scam.

The US DoJ seeks to recover more than $1 billion in property and assets it says were purchased using stolen 1MDB money.

Free Malaysia Today reported that Low may be holed up in his sumptuous apartment in the Peninsula Hotel residences in Shanghai.

Low is reportedly a long-term resident.

The DoJ has accused Low and his associates of using an intricate web of tax haven companies to siphon money away from 1MDB.

Razak set up 1MDB following his 2009 election to drive “the sustainable long-term economic development and growth of Malaysia”.