As Neil Moffitt attempts to extricate Hakassan from the mess of their former Chairman who disappeared suddenly and has been named as part of one of the biggest money laundering scandals in the world, there may be some more issues. As part of the attempt to recover funds stolen, the feds are going as deep as possible to get the money.
According to AVClub.com, “Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a series of lawsuits alleging that Malaysian officials had misappropriated more than $3.5 billion from 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a fund designed to invest in the Malaysian economy. According to The Wall Street Journal, the DoJ has named Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak as an active participant in the scheme, funneling money from the fund into his personal bank account in what Attorney General Loretta Lynch calls “[defrauding] the Malaysian people … on an enormous scale.”
But what did Razak and his cronies (allegedly) buy with all this (allegedly) stolen money? According to the BBC, a couple of luxury hotels, property in New York, London, and California, a private jet, a handful of very expensive Impressionist paintings, rights to songs from the EMI back catalog—oh yeah, and funding for the movie The Wolf Of Wall Street.”
What does this have to do with Neil Moffitt, the CEO of Hakkasan still?
Well, according to court documents, properties by the former Chairman of Hakassan were also being “managed” by Moffitt, after being transferred in theory to hide the money as part of a complex money laundering scheme.
Well, the feds want those apartments back, according to the filling:
On January 21, 2014, QUBAISI assigned his interest in the Purchase Agreement to “212 West 18th Street LLC f/k/a Al Qubaisi 212 West 18th Street LLC.”
QUBAISI signed on behalf of himself as the assignor, and also on behalf of “Al Qubaisi 212 West 18th Street LLC” as the assignee. Neil Moffitt (“Moffitt”) signed as the
Manager of “Al Qubaisi 212 West 18th Street LLC.”The property was purchased by “212 West 18th Street LLC” by deed dated January 21, 2014, for a purchase price of $50,912,500. Moffitt signed as the Manager of
“212 West 18th Street LLC.” Moffitt manages or managed several properties on behalf of QUBAISI.On March 9, 2015, $158,664.71 was transferred from the Vasco Account to an account at J.P. Morgan Chase maintained by Moffitt. Payment details on the wire read: “WALKER TOWER COMPLETE EXPENSES . . . TOTAL TO 2.20.2015.”
This is the apartment the NYPOST claimed was being sold by Moffitt at a huge discount a while back.
Hopefully this will be the end of this, and Hakassan can move on from this disaster and their relationship with their former Chairman. There are no allegations that Moffitt was actively involved in money laundering, there are no allegations that Hakassan investment money was part of the money laundering.
