Club Lunch: The Story Behind the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Expose

Ms. Brown talked about her experience as an independent journalist investigating kleptocracy in Malaysia, which culminated in the 1MDB corruption exposé involving the then Prime Minister Najib Razak. The speaker discussed why she started to probe 1MDB years before it erupted into a worldwide scandal and how the story unraveled as well as the consequences she encountered personally and professionally. Her investigations rocked the global financial community, helped put the offshore finance industry on the run and embarrassed some of the most famous figures in Hollywood, Las Vegas and New York. In 2015, Malaysia issued a warrant for her arrest but Interpol rejected the request that she be placed on the international Red Notice list. Following the election of a new government in May 2018, Malaysia has cancelled all charges against her.

Fortune Magazine named Clare Rewcastle Brown one of the World’s 50 Most Influential Figures in 2016; she was named one of Britain’s Women of the Year 2016; in 2018 she was awarded the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ Guardian Award for investigative journalism and has spoken at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Europe and Asia. She has been named as one of the most influential Londoners in 2018 by the Evening Standard. The speaker has won numerous accolades for her work including the 2013 International Press Institute’s Pioneer of Media Freedom Award.