Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian financier accused of masterminding the multibillion-dollar 1MDB fraud, has submitted a request for a presidential pardon to U.S. President Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The pardon request was filed in recent weeks, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A Justice Department website lists a pending “Pardon after Completion of Sentence” filed this year under the name Taek Jho Low. If granted, the pardon would erase the U.S. criminal charges that have hung over Low since he disappeared roughly a decade ago amid one of the largest financial scandals in history.

Low is the alleged architect of a scheme that prosecutors say siphoned $4.5 billion from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a Malaysian government-owned investment fund created to spur economic growth. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Low directed 1MDB to borrow billions on the strength of Malaysia’s sovereign credit and then orchestrated the theft of funds used to pay political patrons, acquire luxury real estate and fine art, purchase a $250 million superyacht, and finance the Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Several figures tied to the fraud have been imprisoned, including Swiss and Singaporean bankers and a former prime minister of Malaysia. A Goldman Sachs partner who worked closely with Low was sentenced last year to two years in prison, while another bank executive received a 10-year sentence, the report said. Goldman Sachs paid more than $5 billion in penalties to U.S. and Malaysian authorities over its role.

Low, by contrast, has never stood trial. He is believed to have been living in China since his disappearance around 2016, the newspaper said.

Low has been in discussions with U.S. and Malaysian authorities about returning hundreds of millions of dollars linked to the 1MDB fraud, the Journal reported. Any returned funds would flow to the U.S. Justice Department, which would decide how much to forward to other affected countries, including Malaysia.

In 2019, Low surrendered more than $700 million in assets, including properties in Beverly Hills, New York, and London, in a civil forfeiture settlement with U.S. authorities, the WSJ said. He reached a similar agreement in 2024. Neither deal absolved him of criminal liability.