Beau Willimon to Develop Series on 1MDB Corruption Scandal

' Crazy Rich Asians franchise, to develop and produce a series based on Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the ... Skiptomaincontent By PatrickBrzeski PlusIcon PatrickBrzeski AsiaBureauChief MoreStoriesbyPatrick Cannes:DoonaBaeThinksShe’sBoring,ButWeRespectfullyDisagree CannesHiddenGem:MoralOutrageMeetsThrillerTragedyin ‘NextSohee’ Cannes:CrunchyrollTakesGlobalRightstoMakotoShinkaiAnimeFeature ViewAll November22,20216:51pm SharethisarticleonFacebook SharethisarticleonTwitter SharethisarticleonEmail Showadditionalshareoptions SharethisarticleonPrint SharethisarticleonComment SharethisarticleonWhatsapp SharethisarticleonLinkedin SharethisarticleonReddit SharethisarticleonPinit SharethisarticleonTumblr BeauWillimonandJhoLow JohnLamparski/GettyImages;TaylorHill/GettyImages SharethisarticleonFacebook SharethisarticleonTwitter SharethisarticleonEmail Showadditionalshareoptions SharethisarticleonPrint SharethisarticleonComment SharethisarticleonWhatsapp SharethisarticleonLinkedin SharethisarticleonReddit SharethisarticleonPinit SharethisarticleonTumblr Logotext HouseOfCards creatorBeauWillimonandhisWestwardproducingpartnerJordanTappishaveteamedupwithSKGlobal,theco-financiersofWarnerBros.’CrazyRichAsiansfranchise,todevelopandproduceaseriesbasedonBillionDollarWhale:TheManWhoFooledWallStreet,Hollywood,andtheWorld,thebest-sellingnon-fictionbookaboutthehistoric1MDBMalaysiancorruptionscandal. ScreenwriterDavidHenryHwang,athree-timePulitzerfinalistandplaywright,hasbeentappedtowriteandexecutiveproducetheproject.SK Global andWestwardwillco-financeandoverseeallstagesofdevelopmentandproduction. Writtenbyaward-winning WallStreetJournal reportersTomWrightandBradleyHopeandpublishedin2018byHachetteBooks, BillionDollarWhale offersaninsideaccountofMalaysia’smassive1MDBmoney-launderingscandal,exposinganexusofelitewealth,banking,Hollywoodandpolitics.Thebookcentersontheheist’sallegedmastermind,internationalfugitiveJhoLow,andhisadventuresinHollywood(financingMartinScorsese’sThe WolfofWallStreetandpallingaroundwithLeonardoDiCaprio)andWallStreet(makingGoldmanSachsmillionswhiledefraudinginvestors).StillunderinvestigationbyauthoritiesinMalaysia,Singapore,Luxembourg,SwitzerlandandtheU.S.DepartmentofJustice,thetheft—estimatedat$5billion—ranksamongthebiggestcasesoffraudinhistory. RelatedStories MovieNews CannesFlashback:ViggoMortensenandDavidCronenberg'sHistoryBeganattheFest MovieNews Cannes:WhyGreekCinemaIsHavingaMoment Thebookbecamea NewYorkTimesbest-sellerandwasnamedthe FinancialTimes2018BookoftheYear.Ithassoldmorethanhalfamillioncopiesinternationally,includingoveronehundredthousandcopiesinAsia,whereitremainsabest-seller.WrightandHope’sreportingonthesubjectcontributedtoprosecutionsaroundtheworld,includinginthelargesteverbriberycaseagainstamajorbank.TheirinvestigationalsoplayedapivotalroleinMalaysianelections,overturningthedecades-longdominationoftherulingpartyandprecipitatingcriminalchargesagainsttheformerprimeminister,NajibRazak. SK Global’sJohnPenotti,CharlieCorwinandMarcyRosswillserveasexecutiveproducersalongsideWillimonandTappisontheseries.Actor-producerMichelleYeohwillalsobeaproducer. “AtWestwardwearedrawntostoriesthatreflectthecomplexityofthetimeswelivein,centeringonenigmaticandsurprisingcharacters,”saidWillimonandTappisinastatement.“We’realsodrawntodevelopinginnovativewaystoproduceworkinaquicklyshiftingentertainmentlandscape.WithDavidHenryHwangatthehelm,and SK Global atourside,thisprojectallowsustodoboth.” AddedPenottiandCorwin:“It’shardtooverstatetheculturalimpactofthisstoryinAsiaandaroundtheworld.It’sbothataleoffinancialgreedanddeceit,andadarklycomedicsocialsatire.” SKGlobal’sotherprojectsinAsiainclude ThaiCaveRescue forNetflix,currentlyfilminginThailand;theseriesDelhiCrime(alsoatNetflix);andtwoupcomingfeaturesaspartofIndonesia’sBumilangitCinematicUniverseforDisney+. 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