No one would dare to do such a thing in their dreams, with an account down to just one dollar, yet in just five years, he earned $10.2 billion.$
No one would dare to do such a thing in their dreams. A Chinese man with only an elementary school diploma, whose bank account was down to just one dollar, managed to earn $10.2 billion in just five years, hollowing out the Malaysian treasury and 'playing' with global starlets. How did the Chinese Jho Low achieve this?
Jho Low's ancestral home is in Guangzhou, his grandfather was a Chinese expatriate in Thailand, and the family business spans many fields, including real estate, energy, and technology, with substantial assets.
After Jho Low was born, due to various needs, his family relocated to Penang, Malaysia.
Under family planning, Jho Low enrolled at the Wharton School in the U.S., where he first witnessed what it meant to be the offspring of top-tier wealth and top-tier officials.
To break into this circle, he created a persona of a Malaysian prince while maintaining his Chinese appearance.
Because he collected many secrets of the Malaysian royal family, none of the offspring of the wealthy and powerful raised suspicions about him, as entering Wharton was already a symbol of status.
With this persona, Jho Low organized many high-profile parties. When it came time to pay, he either claimed the money needed to be rotated or paid in installments, with his account sometimes dwindling to just one dollar.
He was afraid of being exposed and would almost move from one entertainment venue to another immediately after being seen in one.
Once, when he couldn't make a regular installment payment, he actually repaid it with a $100 'kickback.'
After establishing a persona of being powerful and wealthy, Jho Low was not content; he searched for top-notch financial analysis articles online, 'washed' them, and attached his name, astonishing everyone at the school and being praised as a financial genius.
But fake is fake; he failed a course and did not obtain a diploma. However, at this point, he didn't care because he had already built top-tier connections.
Among these connections, he targeted two people: one was Khaldoon, the head of the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund in the UAE, and the other was Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Najib.
Through the financial knowledge he quickly acquired, he received a promise from Khaldoon that as long as Malaysia had good projects, Jho Low could contact him directly.
Back in Malaysia, Jho Low learned that Najib was competing for the top position and lacked achievements, affecting his chances of winning.
Thus, Jho Low acted as an intermediary, facilitating a $500 million deal between Khaldoon and Najib for investment in the economic development zone.
This 'achievement' allowed Najib to succeed and become the top leader of Malaysia, while Jho Low quickly became a favored figure by Najib's side.
Leveraging this identity, Jho Low registered a shell company, brought in a group of Middle Eastern wealthy individuals to 'make the facade,' and directly borrowed $700 million from the bank, all deposited into Jho Low's personal account.
With this money, Jho Low bought two shell companies, obtained construction qualifications, and packaged them along with his economic development zone privileges to sell to a wealthy businessman.
Through a series of trades, Jho Low secured $1.2 billion. To legitimize this money, Jho Low went to Wall Street, set up a film company, and invested in movie production.
During that time, Jho Low's personal life was extremely extravagant, surrounded by Hollywood actresses, giving away jewelry worth millions at will, countless private jets, and non-stop parties on luxury cruise ships.
Finally, he achieved his goal; Goldman Sachs on Wall Street became very interested in him.
After an investigation, Goldman Sachs discovered that Jho Low not only mingled in the entertainment industry but also could move freely among Malaysia's elite and the Middle Eastern royal families, concluding that he was a 'big fish.'
But in Jho Low's eyes, Goldman Sachs was the 'big fish.' He flew back to Malaysia overnight to discuss strategies with then-Prime Minister Najib. The two decided to establish a state-owned sovereign fund.
In simple terms, it was to establish a company in Najib's name and serve as a guarantor, with Goldman Sachs responsible for issuing funds and the Malaysian people for raising investments.
But the actual manipulator behind this was Jho Low. After securing the first round of over $30 billion in fundraising, he only invested a small portion in a thermal power plant; the majority went into private accounts for himself and Najib.
Jho Low began a new round of extravagant living, this time, his already dissatisfied subordinates grew even more unhappy, believing they were getting less of their share.
Thus, he used his identity as an internal employee to collect over 140 pieces of evidence, all sent to the media.
Upon hearing the news, Jho Low fled, while Prime Minister Najib was imprisoned. During interrogation, Najib admitted that the state-owned sovereign fund had been completely squandered.
After this financial scandal broke, it shocked the world, and Jho Low single-handedly 'emptied' Malaysia.
To this day, the people of Malaysia are still indirectly repaying debts for Jho Low, while he remains at large despite being wanted in four countries.
However, this con artist who leveraged one dollar to manipulate billions will eventually face the punishment he deserves!
