Man on the Run, the true-crime feature documentary about the headline-making 1MDB financial scandal, will premiere in the US on Netflix next month.
When the 1MDB scandal started popping up all over the news several years ago, I saw plenty of headlines about it, especially after Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorcese were in them. But my interest in the scandal rated a “meh” and I didn’t read past those headlines. I should have, though, because the story is outrageous — now told in mind-blowing detail in Man on the Run, which premieres in the US on Friday, January 5, on Netflix.
Written and directed by Cassius Michael Kim (Stockton On My Mind, The Wonder List), Man on the Run uncovers the shocking true story of a corrupt group of co-conspirators who jeopardized a country’s hope for financial stability, and whose influence extended from the highest levels of the Malaysian government to the glamorous enclaves of Hollywood.
Through Kim’s meticulous investigation and unprecedented access to key individuals involved on both sides of the story, along with gripping first-person accounts, the true-crime documentary exposes a complex web of greed and corruption, and lays bare the extensive repercussions of one of the most colossal financial scandals in history.
Man on the Run follows enigmatic businessman and playboy Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low. While working with former Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia, Low orchestrated a scheme to exploit 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund established in 2009 with the noble purpose of benefiting the people of Malaysia.
Then, in 2015, intrepid UK journalist Clare Rewcastle-Brown received leaked financial documents, setting off a global investigation that uncovered a staggering amount of money being funneled into international bank accounts to fuel Low’s extravagant lifestyle — from the acquisition of lavish properties, a private jet and a super-yacht, to paying to party with A-list celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and dating supermodel Miranda Kerr. Jho Low even financed Scorcese’s controversial Oscar®-nominated blockbuster, The Wolf of Wall Street.
Dubbed the “Asian Great Gatsby,” disgraced financier Jho Low now faces charges of money laundering and a slew of other offenses related to the multi-billion-dollar scandal. Wanted by international authorities, he is on the run and believed to be hiding in China.
Featured in the film are Najib Razak, former Prime Minister of Malaysia and current prison inmate, 1MDB whistleblower Xavier André Justo, UK journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown, who broke the story, and FBI agent Bill McMurray.
A production of The Smoking Section in association with Evergreen Media, Man on the Run is produced by Alyse Shorland, Rhana Natour, Fabian W. Joseph, and Davidian Shaw. The executive producers are Scott Norville and Cassius Michael Kim. Joe Simon is the cinematographer, and Jon Connor and Karl Dawson are the editors. The original music was composed by Jordan Asher Cruz, aka BOOTS.
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