By Selangor Journal Staff
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian-born international actress Michelle Yeoh will produce the movie adaptation of ‘Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood and the World’.
It was reported by entertainment news portal Hollywood Reporter, that Yeoh will be making the film heavily based on Jho Low and his alleged money laundering scandals, under her new deal with Ivanhoe Pictures.
The rights for the film was nabbed by SK Global, the company behind box-office hit ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ which starred the movie star from Ipoh.
“Tom and Bradley have crafted a thoroughly compelling telling of this unbelievable story.
“While certainly a daring work of investigative journalism, the narrative thread and eclectic characters that they so diligently chronicle make the book read like a thrilling and engrossing novel.
“We are very proud to be associated with this project and anticipate moving forward very quickly to production,” SK Global president John Penotti said in a statement.
Billion Dollar Whale, written by Wall Street Journal reporters Tom Wright and Bradley Hope tells the story of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) money-laundering scandal with a little bit of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood and politics.
It centres around Malaysian fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, fondly known as Jho Low who is accused of embezzling billions of dollars from the state fund.
Currently under investigation by authorities in Malaysia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the U.S. Department of Justice, the scandal ranks among the biggest cases of fraud in history.