Leonardo DiCaprio testifies at Pras Michel’s 1MDB trial

The rapper is accused of illegal donations and influence peddling, in a closely watched criminal case mixing celebrity, money and geopolitical intrigue.

Malaysian businessman Jho Low with actor Leonardo Di Caprio at the 'Wolf of Wall Street' premiere. Source: Instagram

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio appeared in a Washington federal courthouse on Monday (local time) to testify in a closely watched criminal case featuring a potent mix of celebrity, money and geopolitical intrigue.

The Academy Award-winning star of blockbusters such as “Titanic,” “The Revenant” and “Catch Me If You Can” appeared as a witness in a sprawling Hollywood-meets-Washington trial against the rapper Pras Michel, a founding member of the hip-hop trio the Fugees.

Mr Michel stands accused of numerous criminal charges related to his business and political relationship with Malaysian businessman Jho Low, the alleged mastermind of the 1MDB fraud, one of the largest financial scandals in history.

Mr Michel, who has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing, is one of the last left to face prosecution in cases stemming from the scandal. Its central figure was Mr Low, who allegedly directed an elaborate scheme to steal more than $US4.5bn ($6.6bn) from a Malaysian development fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd, or 1MDB. Mr Low himself remains a fugitive and is believed to be in China.

Mr DiCaprio hasn’t been accused of any crime and his appearance in the Washington courthouse seemed to catch jurors by surprise. He testified largely about how a chance encounter with Mr Low at a birthday party in Las Vegas more than 10 years ago blossomed into a business relationship. Mr Low would ultimately help invest millions into “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a film that other Hollywood studios saw as a risky project. Mr DiCaprio also testified about his friendship with Mr Michel, saying it dated back to the 1990s.

The Justice Department later said much of those funds had been unlawfully diverted from 1MDB, a Malaysian development fund meant to benefit the people of Malaysia.

Besides testifying about his friendship with Mr Michel, Mr DiCaprio spoke on the witness stand about the lavish gifts and donations Mr Low made, buying art at charitable events that supported the actor’s charitable foundation, for example. The actor recalled a conversation where he said Mr Low told him he planned to make what Mr DiCaprio called “a significant sum” in political contributions to the Democratic Party during the 2012 election. The amount Mr Low planned to contribute was between $US20m and $US30m, the actor recalled.

The government says Mr Low ultimately transferred $US21.6m to Mr Michel between June and November 2012. Mr Michel stands accused of funnelling nearly $US2m of that money to support then-President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.

The rest of the allegations against Mr Michel stemmed from 2017, when prosecutors allege he assembled a team of people to try to influence the Trump administration both to close the investigation into 1MDB and to remove from the US a fugitive Chinese businessman whose return China was seeking.

As a foreigner, Mr Low wasn’t permitted to make political contributions. Further, federal campaign finance law doesn’t allow donors to make donations on behalf of others without disclosure.

Prosecutors opened their case against Mr Michel last week, after a three-day effort to select a jury for the trial. “This is a case about foreign money, foreign influence and concealment,” trial attorney Nicole Lockhart said, telling jurors that a tale full of political intrigue, backroom deals and burner phones would unfold before them.

Since his indictment, Mr Michel has rejected potential plea deals and said he had relied on his former lawyer’s advice in working with Mr Low. Mr Michel has described his efforts to remove the Chinese fugitive, Guo Wengui, as a humanitarian effort to help the US get back in exchange a pregnant American woman who hadn’t been allowed to leave China.

In court, Mr Michel has sat with his lawyers, often wearing a dark suit, tie and face mask. References to his musical career, which peaked in the 1990s, have come up periodically. Despite his early musical success, Ms. Lockhart said, by 2012, Mr Michel was looking for other ways to make money. All told, Mr Michel took some $US100m from Mr Low over the course of their friendship, she said, using some of it to get Mr Low access to senior officials in the US government. The prosecutor said those efforts broke a law that bars foreign money in US elections as well as one that requires the disclosure of foreign influence campaigns.

Prosecutors have clashed repeatedly with Mr Michel’s lawyer, David Kenner, who objected several times throughout Ms. Lockhart’s half-hour opening remarks last week. After other disagreements between prosecutors and Mr Michel’s team, Mr Kenner said he wouldn’t provide an opening statement at the trial’s outset but would do so after the government presented its case.

Other prominent witnesses expected to be called to the stand include casino mogul Steve Wynn and senior Trump administration officials. Ms Lockhart also previewed the testimony of Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy, who pleaded guilty to working on the lobbying campaign with Mr Michel and was later pardoned by former President Donald Trump.

Ms Lockhart referred to Mr Broidy as the “fixer” and said he would describe how he worked with Mr Michel to hide the fact that Mr Low was their client in a lobbying campaign. “They knew Low was toxic,” she said.

She also told jurors about the efforts to get Mr Guo removed from the US, describing how Messrs. Michel and Broidy tried to set up meetings between a Chinese government official and senior members of the Trump administration. She mentioned an effort to have Mr Wynn press Mr Trump to deport Mr Guo, even calling Mr Trump from his yacht. “It almost worked,” Ms Lockhart said.

Mr Guo was arrested in March on separate US charges of engaging in a $US1 billion fraud, a development Mr Michel’s team has described as bolstering its argument that Mr Michel, in seeking Mr Guo’s removal, was only pursuing efforts that were in the US interest. The judge earlier granted prosecutors’ request to exclude references to the new case against Mr Guo during Mr Michel’s trial.

The Wall Street Journal