Ivanhoe Pictures, Crazy Rich Asians’ Michelle Yeoh Team On Film Adaptation Of ‘Billion Dollar Whale’ Exposé

SK Global’s Ivanhoe Pictures, the company that co-financed and co-produced WB’s rom-com hit Crazy Rich Asians, has obtained the film rights to the recently released non-fiction exposé Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World, with CRA star Michelle Yeoh on board to produce under her recently inked deal with Ivanhoe.

Written by Wall Street Journal reporters Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, the book center on Jho Low, the alleged mastermind involved in Malaysia’s shocking 1MDB money-laundering scandal and details the secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics. Now under investigation by authorities in Malaysia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the U.S. Department of Justice, the theft—estimated at $5 billion—ranks among the biggest cases of fraud in history.  Low remains an international fugitive.

The deal was negotiated on behalf of Wright and Hope by CAA and Steve Troha at Folio Literary Management, and on behalf of SK Global by their head of Business and Legal Affairs Brian Kornreich.