Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World

by Tom Wright

It was simply a way to wash a client’s money through what looked like a mutual fund. In other words, cash coming out the other side appeared to be a transfer from a mutual fund. This was exactly what happened with the $100 million, which Enterprise Emerging Market Fund promptly sent to a shell company controlled by Fat Eric, Low’s associate and, increasingly, an important nominee for his many companies. Yeo never made clear the business reason for the transfer. It was unclear why a state fund such as 1MDB would use such secretive financial structures, but Pinto didn’t pry, as BSI had vouched for 1MDB. As Kevin Swampillai, Yeo’s boss, put it: “There was only a semblance of compliance at these funds.” In the next couple of years, Amicorp would set up $1.5 billion of such structures for 1MDB, Low, and his family.