The US government has obtained a judge’s order for the forfeiture of a $6 million luxury condo in the Flatiron district bought with money stolen from 1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund at the center of one of the largest financial frauds in history, Gimme Shelter has learned exclusively. 

The second-floor condo is at 10 Madison Square West, overlooking Madison Square Park. It was bought in July 2017 for $5.6 million via an anonymous shell company for the benefit of May Ling Catherine Tan, the feds say.

The government is also seizing at least $1.77 million in rental proceeds earned from the property from February 2018 to December 2025, according to court documents. 

According the Amended Complaint, Tan once worked as a personal assistant to Taek Jho Low, an international fugitive alleged to have orchestrated the multi-billion dollar 1MDB fraud and who recently asked the White House for a pardon. Tan could not be reached for comment.

However, the apartment was forfeited without an admission of guilt or wrongdoing by Tan, according to the Consent of Judgment Forfeiture filed on May 26th. 

10 Madison Square West was built in 1915 by William Van Alen, who later built New York’s Chrysler Building. The brick and limestone structure has since been transformed into ultra luxurious residences. The three-bedroom, 3.5-bath condo in question is 2,365 square feet and comes with a 254-square-foot patio.

It was last asking $23,500 a month for rent.

Trial Attorney Barbara Levy of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) is prosecuting the civil forfeiture case, with help from the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the US Marshals. The FBI’s International Corruption Squad in New York is leading the investigation.

In court documents, the US government says Low orchestrated a $4.5 billion theft from 1MDB, starting in 2009, the year Low started buying Manhattan trophy properties and buying celebrity access on the New York club scene, as first reported in The Post.  

Privately, investigators have said that the theft was actually for far more than $4.5 billion. The stolen billions were also used to fund Low’s excessive lifestyle, which included buying a 300-foot yacht and a jet. Stolen 1MDB funds were also used to produce films including “The Wolf of Wall Street” and to buy gifts for celebrities, like diamonds for Miranda Kerr — as well as a Picasso, a Basquiat and Marlon Brando’s stolen Oscar for Leonardo DiCaprio and a Warhol for Swizz Beatz, the husband of Alicia Keys. These gifts have been returned and the celebs have denied knowledge of Low’s alleged wrongdoing and their connection to illicit funds.

Beatz — aka Kassem Dean — is also currently being sued by the liquidators of two defunct shell companies tied to 1MDB in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. They are seeking to recover $7.3 million in stolen 1MDB funds; Beatz denies any wrongdoing and says the $7.3 million payments that he and his companies received were for legitimate music and business ventures. 

While officials say the 1MDB theft ended in 2015, a cover-up was even more costly to Malaysia. Low helped recruit China to fill 1MDB’s empty coffers through bogus and inflated “belt and road” projects that left Malaysia in China’s debt and under its influence, according to the Sarawak Report’s Clare Rewcastle Brown, who is currently writing a new book about the cover-up, “The China Contract.”

To date, Low has forfeited more than $1 billion worth of assets bought with 1MDB cash. 

He is still wanted in Malaysia and the US, where he is charged with conspiring to launder billions of dollars, for conspiring to bribe foreign officials and for using some of the stolen money for illegal lobbying and US political campaign donation schemes.  

In court documents, the government laid out the anatomy of the fraud, showing how the illicit funds moved across borders thanks to so-called Western enablers — including lawyers, who play a key role in helping launder money through US real estate. 

In the 1MDB investivation, DOJ has forfeited 17 luxury residences including 10 Madison Square West as well as others in New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris — as well as his interest in a hotel in New York and another in Los Angeles, according to court documents. Low also agreed in 2024 to liquidate and return to Malaysia a luxury property in Hong Kong bought with funds traced to the 1MDB theft. In the same agreement, Low also agreed to liquidate and return to Malaysia investmets in a residential property under construction in Singapore, sources say. 

1MDB was supposed to help promote economic development. Instead stolen cash was used to fund lavish lifestyles for Low and his circle, including former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, who has been jailed since 2022. In December, Najib was sentenced to an additional 15 years in jail when his six-year jail term ends, charged with abuse of power and money laundering, and fined $2.8 billion. Najib co-founded 1MDB with Low during the first of his nine years in power. 

Two ex-Goldman Sachs bankers, including Kimora Lee Simmons’ estranged husband, Tim Leissner, are currently serving jail sentences for their role in the crime. Leissner has also asked President Trump for a pardon. 

Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay $7.3 billion in global fines and reparations including a recent $500 million settlement with its shareholders earlier this month for misleading them about its work with 1MDB. Last month, Grammy award winning rapper Pras Michel reported to prison to begin a 14-year sentence for his role in funneling some of the foreign loot into the 2012 US presidential election and ordered to forfeit $64 million of stolen loot; he says he’ll appeal.