(July 4): Malaysian deal-maker Jho Low allegedly stole from the poor of Malaysia to give to charities linked to American celebrities. New York Post reported that Jho Low gave at least US$200 million to various 'celeb' charities.

New York Post reported that while celebs given diamonds and art such as Miranda Kerr and Leonardo DiCaprio have returned their gifts from Jho Low to the US Department of Justice, the charities are keeping the donations.

Malaysian Opposition Member of Parliament Tony Pua told the New York Post: “I don’t know what the charities’ ethical practice should be.

“The monies can’t be returned to the Malaysian government, because the government is comprised of people complicit in laundering the money in the first place. The charities should set up a separate trust for the funds serving a cause benefiting Malaysians, or return the money to Malaysia if the current government is deposed.”

Most of the money Jho Low allegedly pilfered from 1MDB was used to buy property, a yacht, a jet, art and diamonds for himself and his lovers, like Miranda Kerr, as well as celebrities he wanted to hang out with, according to the US government, which has filed suits to claw back US$1.6 billion in stolen assets, New York Post reported.

Among the charities that were handed money from Jho Low was the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation which received “millions of dollars”.

Singer Alicia Keys also received money from Jho Low for the charity Keep A Child Alive, which she co-founded to fight AIDS in Africa and We Are Here Movement.

Jho Low also gave money to Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, a charity founded by Denise Rich, a former New Yorker who gave up her citizenship more than a decade after Bill Clinton pardoned her late ex-husband, Marc Rich, who was wanted in the US for tax evasion.

Jho Low also gave at least US$20 million to Panthera, a wild cat foundation created in 2014 by New York-born mercurial mineral mining billionaire Thomas Kaplan, a board member of Manhattan’s prestigious 92nd Street Y. Jho Low also invested US$150 million in Kaplan’s company, Electrum Group LLC and joined its board for a time.

While the government is seizing the US$150 million that Low invested in Electrum, which is cooperating, it has not made a claim against Kaplan’s Panthera charity, New York Post reported.

Jho Low also gave US$50 million to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The Center told the New York Post they received only “a portion” of the US$50 million pledged.

“Those funds have been expended in accordance with the donor’s wishes,” a spokesman told the New York Post by email.

Jho Low also gave US$25 million to the United Nations Foundation, which said it “only” received US$3 million. Jho Low also gave to the National Geographic Pristine Seas Fund, which still has Low’s Hong Kong-based Jynwel foundation as a partner on its home page.

Jho Low also pledged at least US$20,000 a year to the Motion Picture Television Fund.

Jho Low also donated to Children’s National Hospital, Earth To Paris, Global Daily, IRIN News, and Mashable Social Good Summit, New York Post reported.