Four major artworks once entangled in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal have been sold by the US Marshals Service, raising just over $36 million in an online auction that closed earlier this month. The sale, handled by Texas auctioneers Gaston and Sheehan, drew international attention not only for the calibre of the artists involved but also for the extraordinary backstory of how these works entered federal custody.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Red Man One (1982) led the group, selling for $22 million after an opening bid of just under $3 million. His Self Portrait from the same year fetched $8.3 million. Pablo Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc (1939) achieved just over $5 million, while Diane Arbus’s iconic photograph Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. (1962) went for $500,150 — a comparatively modest figure, though still significant given its journey through the art market.
These works were once in the possession of figures implicated in the vast 1MDB scheme, a multibillion-dollar fraud that siphoned an estimated $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund between 2009 and 2014. In what the US Department of Justice called the largest kleptocracy case in its history, funds were laundered through banks, shell companies and luxury purchases, leaving a trail that stretched from Hollywood to Geneva.
Basquiat’s Self Portrait was surrendered by Christopher Joey McFarland, a co-founder of Red Granite Pictures, the production company behind The Wolf of Wall Street. Red Granite was set up with Riza Aziz, stepson of Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was later convicted in connection with the scandal. Prosecutors allege that embezzled 1MDB funds were channelled into the company, financing both the Scorsese film and a spree of high-end acquisitions.
Other works in the sale were tied to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, widely regarded as the architect of the fraud. Between 2012 and 2014 he acquired Basquiat’s Red Man One, Picasso’s Tête de taureau et broc and Arbus’s photograph. He later gave them to actor Leonardo DiCaprio, whose role in The Wolf of Wall Street made him one of Low’s closest celebrity associates. DiCaprio voluntarily handed over the works to federal authorities in 2017. One of them, the Picasso, was reportedly accompanied by a note reading: “Happy belated Birthday! This gift is for you.” It was signed with Low’s initials.
Interpol has an active red notice for Low, who remains at large.
This is not the first time artworks linked to 1MDB have passed through Gaston and Sheehan. In 2021 the firm sold an Andy Warhol Round Jackie (1964) for just over $1 million, alongside a rare poster for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
Funds from the auction will not simply vanish into the federal system. While most US Marshals Service sales benefit the Treasury, proceeds from assets connected to 1MDB are being returned to victims. The Department of Justice announced last year that $1.4 billion had already been repatriated, with further distributions planned as additional recoveries are made.
The sale highlights not only the extraordinary values attached to Basquiat and Picasso but also the continuing fallout from one of the largest financial frauds of the 21st century.
No Comment! Be the first one.