Malaysia’s 1MDB sues Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Coutts

State fund trying to recover billions in alleged losses from corruption scandal, according to court filings

Malaysia’s now-defunct 1MDB state fund is suing subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Coutts & Co to recover billions in alleged losses from a corruption scandal at the fund, according to court documents seen by Reuters.

1MDB is claiming $1.11bn (£785bn) from Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Bhd, $800m from JP Morgan (Switzerland) Ltd and $1.03bn from a Swiss-based Coutts unit, and interest payments from all of them, according to the lawsuit.

The claims are premised on “negligence, breach of contract, conspiracy to defraud/injure, and/or dishonest assistance”, 1MDB said in the documents, filed at a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday.

The three companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit’s claims.

Malaysia’s finance ministry said on Monday that 1MDB and a former unit had filed 22 civil suits seeking to recover more than $23bn in assets from entities and people allegedly involved in defrauding the fund and its ex-subsidiary. It did not identify any of the individuals or entities being sued.

Malaysian business daily the Edge first reported the suits against the banks and others. JP Morgan and Coutts declined to comment on the report.

A Deutsche Bank spokesperson said: “We have not been served any papers, and we are not aware of any basis for a legitimate claim against Deutsche Bank.”

Malaysian and US investigators say at least $4.5bn was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, in a wide-ranging scandal that has implicated high-level officials, banks and financial institutions around the world.

Malaysian authorities have previously said there were billions of dollars more unaccounted for.

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