Miranda Kerr has handed more than $8 million worth of jewellery to the US government.
The 34-year-old model was gifted the accessories, including a $3.8 million, 8 carat diamond pendant, by Jho Low, a Malaysian financier, who is accused of having used stolen overseas money to buy presents for celebrities including the Australian beauty and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Miranda – who is married to Snapchat tycoon Evan Spiegel and has six-year-old son Flynn with ex-husband Orlando Bloom – surrendered $8.1 million in jewellery from her safe-deposit box in Los Angeles over to the US Justice Department on Friday (23.06.17) as part of international lawsuits alleging the money for the gifts was illegally taken from a Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund.
A spokesperson for the model said: "From the start of the inquiry, Miranda Kerr cooperated fully and pledged to turn over the gifts of jewellery to the government. Ms Kerr will continue to assist with the inquiry in any way she can."
Meanwhile, a few weeks ago, Leonardo handed over some of his most prized possessions – including an Oscar won by the late Marlon Brando and a Picasso painting- that had been gifted to him as part of the same probe.
Neither Miranda nor Leonardo, 42, are named as defendants in the lawsuits.
The US justice department is seeking to seize more than a billion pounds in assets, including a luxury owned by Jho Low, and they have already seized the rights to ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ – which starred Leonardo – and ‘Dumb and Dumber To’.
Both movies were produced by Red Granite, a firm founded by Riza Aziz, the stepson of prime minister Najib Razak, who set up the state fund but has denied any wrongdoing.
More than $4.5 billion has been stolen.