Jho Low — the Malaysian “Great Gatsby” whom the US Justice Department claims was involved in stealing $4.5 billion from a Malaysian development fund — had no trouble befriending Leonardo DiCaprio, Miranda Kerr and Kate Upton.
All it took were gifts — Picasso and Basquiat paintings for Leo, diamonds for Miranda and, according to a new book, Birkin bags for Kate.
“If you have enough money, you can buy your way into Hollywood very easily,” Tom Wright, co-author of “Billion Dollar Whale” (due Sept. 18 from Hachette Books) told me.
Wright and fellow Wall Street Journal reporter Bradley Hope acknowledged in a joint interview that the New York Post was the first to report on the mysterious Low when he racked up a $160,000 tab at Avenue in September 2009.
The next month at 1Oak, he allegedly sent 23 bottles of Cristal Champagne to Lindsay Lohan’s table for her birthday even though she had turned 23 in July.
One insider told The Post: “Nobody spends . . . money like that. It’s just weird.”
DiCaprio handed over his gifts from Low to the feds last year: multimillion-dollar artworks by Picasso and Basquiat, as well as the Best Actor Oscar statuette Marlon Brando won for “On the Waterfront.”
Kerr also settled a civil asset-forfeiture claim by turning over $8.1 million in diamond jewelry that Low had given her during the year they dated in 2014.
The authors told me that Upton has so far been allowed to keep the Birkin bags Low gave her.
“This isn’t over yet,” Hope said. “The Department of Justice has gone after assets, but no criminal charges have been brought.”
Low is believed to be hiding out in China, as authorities in the US, Malaysia, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore continue investigating.