Although the jury in the trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker finally saw proof of the treasures bought using suspected stolen funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), they did not get to see the infamous 22-carat pink diamond pendant linked to Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
The pink diamond big enough to be a paperweight was created by prestigious New York jeweller Lorraine Schwartz for Rosmah.
According to a report by Bloomberg, during the proceeding of Roger Ng's bribery trial over the 1MDB scandal, jurors were only shown the invoice of the necklace.
It reported that on Wednesday (March 23), prosecutors were winding down their case at the Brooklyn Federal Court and showed jurors how billions of dollars were diverted from three US$6.5 billion 1MDB bond transactions by fugitive financier Low Taek Jho or better known as Jho Low were used to buy luxury items.
Low was also accused of diverting funds from 1MDB to Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, who was also a friend of his, to help produce the film The Wolf of Wall Street.
In the trial, jurors were also shown a photo of a DVD of the film as well as a screenshot from the credits thanking Low for his support.
It was reported that Riza's Red Granite production company had in 2018 agreed to pay US$60 million to settle claims brought by the US Department of Justice.
The claims were that the company had financed the movie and other pictures with money stolen from 1MDB.
Prosecutors also claimed that five artworks from Christie’s auction house for US$58.3 million, including a US$51.8 million Jean-Michel Basquiat painting titled Dustheads were bought by an entity controlled by Low using money stolen from 1MDB.
Schwartz, who has designed for celebrities like Beyonce, Adele and Blake Lively, could have been a witness in the case, but she instead gave a statement that prosecutors entered into the official court record.
The jeweller’s records showed that Low had contacted her in June 2013, asking her to create a pink diamond necklace with a heart-shaped gem at its centre for Rosmah.
However, while Rosmah had asked for an 18-carat diamond, Schwartz said she only had a 22-carat pink diamond. Subsequently, a US$23 million deal was struck for the larger stone, records showed.
According to the records, Schwartz had later personally delivered the necklace to Rosmah while she was staying aboard a yacht with Low off the coast of Monaco.
Rosmah later bought an additional US$1.3 million worth of jewellery from Schwartz in 2014, records showed.
Ng who was the only Goldman Sachs banker to go to trial in the scandal, was accused of conspiring with his former boss Tim Leissner to help Low siphon billions of dollars from a trio of bond deals the bank did for 1MDB.
Low, who was also charged with Ng in the fraud, is a fugitive while Leissner pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the US to testify against Ng in the trial.
It was reported that neither Najib or Rosmah were charged by the US and the couple's lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment.