FBI demands Wolf of Wall Street film profits in fraud claim

US federal officers have staked a claim on millions of dollars in profits from the hit film The Wolf of Wall Street as part of a major investigation into a multi-billion dollar fraud.

Financing for the 2013 Leonardo DiCaprio movie is alleged to have come from as much as $13bn (£9.85bn) siphoned off from 1MDB, a Malaysian development fund set up to invest public money.

Financiers including Malaysian Jho Low, who is well known in celebrity circles, stand accused of diverting the money into shell companies for their own benefit.

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Court papers allege Low funded a lavish lifestyle for himself and friends, says CNN Money, including $24m worth of gambling at Las Vegas casinos, $5m on private jet rentals, $2m on yacht hire and $3m on jewellery.

The $100m provided by then relatively unknown film production company Red Granite Pictures, run by Riza Aziz, to fund The Wolf of Wall Street is also said to have come from the fund.

"The Malaysian people never saw a penny of profit of that film," assistant attorney general Leslie R. Caldwell said. The Martin Scorsese picture is estimated to have earned $392m worldwide.

A spokesman for the production firm said: "There has never been anything inappropriate about any of Red Granite Pictures' or Riza Aziz's business activities."

1MDB said it "has never invested in or transferred funds to Red Granite Pictures, whether directly or via intermediaries. Any statement to the contrary is false". A spokesman added it has not been contacted by US officials over the allegations.

Other assets being seized include a range of prime real estate in places like New York and London and three classic artworks: a piece by Vincent Van Gogh and two by Claude Monet.

US authorities are seeking to recover the $1bn that falls under their purview as it was processed through US banks such as JP Morgan and Wells Fargo.

Goldman Sachs is also implicated for its role in underwriting and selling bonds worth $3.5bn for 1MDB. The bank said it wasn't aware of any corruption when it helped raise money for the Malaysian fund.

The Guardian believes between $6bn and $13bn has gone missing from the fund.

Police in Singapore have already moved to seize $177m in assets and parallel investigations are under way in Switzerland and Luxembourg.

A spokesman for Low called the allegations "false, materially misleading and categorically denied".