Ex-Justice Official Helped 1MDB's Jho Low Funnel Dirty Money
- Malaysian sought to get U.S. Justice Department to back off
- Scandal echoes plot outlined in Republican’s leaked emails
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A bizarre scheme to pressure the U.S. to go easy on Malaysians involved in one of the biggest financial scandals in years relied on an unlikely middleman -- a Justice Department employee.
In court papers Friday, the Justice Department laid out evidence showing how one of its own used shell companies to funnel $74 million into the U.S. at a time when no banks would handle deposits from the Malaysians involved. The official, George Higginbotham, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to lie to banks about the source and purpose of those funds.