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Fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low’s luxury seaside villa in Cyprus is set to be auctioned after a Nicosia district court issued a confiscation order on the property this week. 

The Cyprus attorney general’s office said in a June 9 statement that it had jointly applied to seize the property with the country’s Unit for Combating Money Laundering. 

The decision to confiscate the property represents the first time such an action has been taken in Cyprus without a conviction by a local court, and according to the statement issued, was taken with the consent of Low’s legal team. 

OCCRP emailed Low’s previously known attorneys in Cyprus for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

Low’s current whereabouts are unknown; he has been a fugitive since an Interpol Red Notice was issued for him in 2016 at the request of Singapore and Malaysia.

It is not yet clear whether the proceeds from the auction of his Cyprus property will be distributed to the Malaysian government, which has launched a number of international legal proceedings over the theft of at least $4.5 billion from its sovereign wealth fund.

Low is alleged to have masterminded the fraud and money laundering scheme, which allegedly siphoned funds from the state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to offshore companies and banks across the globe between 2009 to 2015.

The brazen nature of the alleged fraud grabbed international attention, as it financed lavish lifestyles, implicated Goldman Sachs, and landed Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, in prison for corruption.

Low allegedly used his ill-gotten proceeds to make splashy purchases, including a transparent grand piano for supermodel Miranda Kerr, a New York City penthouse once owned by Jay-Z, a $6 million emerald green soup can painted by Andy Warhol, and an entire hotel in Beverly Hills.

Low bought the Cyprus property, a luxury seaside villa in the Cape Greco area of Ayia Napa, in 2015 for 5.9 million euros. The purchase was used in his securing of nationality in the country under the now-defunct Cyprus Citizenship by Investment (CIP) or “golden passport” scheme.

Reports about the 1MDB scandal and Low’s alleged role had emerged prior to the approval of his application for citizenship. The Unit for Combating Money Laundering flagged concerns to Cyprus’ Interior Ministry during his application, according to a report drafted by a Cypriot government investigative committee.

In May 2023, the Cypriot Cabinet of Ministers announced that they had stripped Low of his Cyprus citizenship over his role in the 1MDB scandal, a process that concluded in June 2024 with a rejection of an appeal by Low. 

The European Union is preparing to launch its 21st sanctions package against Russia, aiming to deliver a sweeping blow to Moscow’s financial infrastructure and wartime supply chains.

“We intend to deal a heavy blow to Russia’s financial sector, imposing asset freezes on close to 90 banks and additional transaction bans on over 30 banks in Russia and other third countries,” announced EU Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas on X.

Beyond traditional banking, the upcoming measures will target 11 cryptocurrency platforms accused of helping Moscow circumvent Western financial restrictions. Alongside these targeted measures, the EU plans to tighten its blanket ban on providing crypto-asset services to designated third countries.

The industrial and energy sectors will also face renewed pressure. The new restrictions are designed to directly squeeze Russian drone production while clamping down on domestic oil traders and refiners.

Finally, to combat sanctions evasion, the package imposes trade controls on 50 companies operating outside of Russia. This includes entities based in China, Türkiye, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, the UAE, and India.

An Azerbaijani prosecutor has demanded prison sentences of up to 15 years for a team of independent journalists facing financial crimes charges, prompting fierce condemnation from international press freedom groups who describe the trial as a severe escalation in the country’s crackdown on the media.

During a hearing on June 8 at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes, the state prosecutor, Rauf Malyshov, reportedly requested sentences ranging from 13 to 15 years for four staff members of Toplum TV, an independent news site known for its critical coverage of human rights abuses and state corruption.

The defendants—co-founder Alasgar Mammadli, video editor Mushfig Jabbar, reporter Farid Ismailyov, and social media manager Elmir Abbasov—were swept up in a March 2024 police raid on their offices. Authorities initially charged the journalists with “currency smuggling,” later expanding the indictment to encompass a broader array of financial crimes.

The journalists have strongly denied the charges, arguing that the prosecution is direct retaliation for their investigative reporting.

The prosecution’s demands in the case extend beyond the Toplum TV team. Malyshov also requested 16-year sentences for two prominent pro-democracy activists, Ruslan Izzetli and Akif Gurbanov, and terms ranging from 14 to 15 years for three other civil society workers who are being prosecuted in the same case.

The state prosecutor’s demands drew a prompt backlash from rights watchdogs, who have long accused the government in Baku of weaponizing the judicial system to silence dissent.

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, told OCCRP that the sentencing recommendation “demonstrates that the authorities are not easing their assault on independent journalism but intensifying it.” She added that “international pressure has so far failed to halt the repression,” urging those with “influence and leverage” over Azerbaijan to intervene.

Press freedom advocates noted that the requested prison terms mark an escalation in the state’s tactics.

Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at Reporters Without Borders, told OCCRP that the prosecutor’s request “appears designed not only to punish critical reporting, but to retaliate against outspoken critics of the government and deter other journalists from continuing their work, even from behind bars.”

Cavelier pointed out that the proposed sentences are significantly “harsher” than those handed down just a year ago. In June 2025, the same Baku court sentenced staff members from the investigative outlet Abzas Media and a journalist at RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani service to up to nine years in prison following a financial crimes trial that international observers widely condemned as a sham.

“The severity of these proposed sentences underscores just how threatened Azerbaijani authorities are by reporting that exposes high-level corruption,” said Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Toplum TV staff are among at least two dozen media workers who have been detained since late 2023 in what rights groups describe as an unprecedented crackdown on the free press in Azerbaijan. Many of those detained have been charged with financial offenses. Among those targeted are journalists from OCCRP’s member center Meydan TV, who currently face up to 12 years in prison following their arrests in December 2024.

Struthers, Cavelier, and Said all urged for the immediate release of all of the detained Azerbaijani journalists and media workers. 

The trial of the Toplum TV journalists and their co-defendants is set to continue, with the next court date scheduled for June 22.