The US justice department is seeking to acquire the rights to films, including the comedy sequel Dumb and Dumber To, as part of an effort to recover $540m in assets it says were stolen from Malaysia’s troubled wealth fund.
The justice department says more than $4.5bn has been stolen from the fund.
It is the latest development in a complex money laundering scheme the justice department says was intended to enrich top-level Malaysian officials.
Red Granite Pictures, the company which produced Dumb and Dumber To, was named by the department in a new complaint that claims the money it used to make the movie is traceable to foreign corruption.