Report: Malaysian duo withdraw suit against ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ producer

(MMO) – Kelantan lawmaker Datuk Husam Musa (pic) and lawyer Matthias Chang have dropped their civil class action lawsuit against US-based film producer Red Granite Pictures, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) reported today.

According to the website that highlights news affecting the movie industry, the two Malaysians voluntarily withdrew their lawsuit against Red Granite Pictures and the company’s co-founders Christopher Joey McFarland and Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, but their reasons for doing so was unclear.

“They moved to voluntarily dismiss the suit without prejudice, according to court documents filed Friday, so they could take another shot at it. Plaintiffs’ attorney Louis Burke has not yet responded to a request for comment,” THR reported.

Red Granite Pictures had produced the controversial 2013 drama Wolf of Wall Street directed by award-winning Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Husam who is Salor assemblyman and Chang, a former lawyer for retired prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, were reported to have filed a class action civil racketeering lawsuit on August 11 in a New York district court seeking custodianship of US$1 billion (RM4.12 billion) in assets the US Department of Justice previously claimed to be stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

The suit had named McFarland; Riza; Low Taek Jho, Low’s tax attorney Debra Whelan Johnson and her firm Metropolis IX Capital Advisors LLC; Goldman Sachs Group and its former banker Timothy Leissner as defendants.