 KUCHING: Prime Minister Najib Razak’s son Riza Aziz and his partner Joey McFarland have been accused of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act over a lawsuit he initiated against producers Steve Stabler and Brad Krevoy in the USA . Both Stabler and Krevoy are producers of the upcoming Dumb and Dumber 2 movie. They amended their counter-suit against Aziz, who is Najib’s step-son, and his production firm Red Granite Stabler and Krevoy are now claiming that Aziz and Red Granite are awash with “ill gotten gains and dirty money”. In their amended claim Stabler and Krevoy state that “Red Granite is funded with monies that include proceeds from offenses against foreign nation that involve bribery of public officials, or misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement of public funds by public official.” The Hollywood Reporter (THR) on Thursday revealed that Stabler and Krevoy had further asserted that “those ill-gotten funds have then been invested in Red Granite” and as a result Aziz and McFarland have “engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity in that they have engaged in multiple financial transactions within the United States, including the financing of The Wolf of Wall Street and then separately financing Dumb and Dumber 2…with the knowledge that the transactions were designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership, or control of the proceeds of the illegal activity. ” Stabler and Krevoy’s statement of claim points out that these are in “violation of 18U.S.C & 1956. Each of these transactions occured after the formation of Red Granite in or about September 2010.” They also claimed that the “proceeds of illegal activity has enabled Red Granite to acquire the rights to Dumb and Dumber 2.” Red Granite produced the US$100 million (RM330 mil) The Wolf On Wall Street film which was initially nominated for the Academy Awards this year. But for some undertermined reason, Aziz was not acceptable to the organisors. Many opined that the organisor’s hesitance may have been due to earlier reports which threw up questions on Aziz’s wealth and source of it. Aziz has in the past admitted that Red Granite’s source of funding came mainly from Middle East and Asia. Stabler and Krevoy’s amended counter-suit, which has caught the attention of Hollywood’s legal fraternity, is now before the California court as part of a wrangle over rights and credits for the upcoming Dumb and Dumber 2. FMT
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