$4.5bn was allegedly misappropriated from the Malaysian state investment fund and used to buy luxury real estate, expensive works of art, and even to produce a Hollywood movie about, of all things, financial fraud.

據說馬來西亞國家投資資金中有 45 億美元遭到挪用，目的是購買豪華房產、高價藝術品，另外，信不信由你，他們製作了一部關於金融詐騙的好萊塢電影。

But how did they do it?

然而他們是怎麼做到的呢？

According to the US Department of Justice, one strategy involved setting up bank accounts under fake company names that resembled real firms.

根據美國司法部的說法，其中一種策略是為真實存在的公司捏造假名，再用假名去開銀行帳戶。

BlackRock Commodities (Global) Limited sounds a lot like the global investment manager, while Affinity Equity International Partners Limited could easily be mistaken for the private equity firm.

｢貝萊德資產 (全球) 有限公司」聽起來很像貝萊德環球投資；｢駿麒國際資產夥伴」也很容易就會跟駿麒投資搞混。

There's no law against this, but it could help put investigators off the scent.

這些命名並未牴觸法律，卻會讓調查員更難追蹤資金去向。

Another scheme saw money transferred to trust accounts at US law firms.

還有另一種手法是把錢轉到美國法律公司的信託帳戶。

Client confidentiality rules in the US mean these accounts are barely regulated, making suspicious transactions difficult to find.

美國的客戶保密協定讓這些帳戶幾乎無法可管，於是可疑的交易變得更難追蹤。

The DOJ alleges that firms like Shearman and Sterling and DLA Piper were unwittingly used to sneak a billion dollars from 1MDB into the US.

美國司法部聲稱不知情的謝爾曼·思特靈、歐華律師事務所都遭到利用，幫一馬在美國藏了十億美元。

The third strategy allegedly employed is what the DOJ calls layering; moving funds from bank account to bank account, adding layers of complexity, until the original source of the funds is camouflaged.

第三種策略，司法部稱之為｢層層分贓」，他們把錢在帳戶之間轉來轉去，加上一層又一層，複雜到沒人查得出資金源頭。

Let's follow the money allegedly used to buy this pink diamond necklace for Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister and founder of 1MDB, Najib Razak.

我們來看看這筆錢，據說被用來買粉鑽項鍊給 Rosmah Mansor，她嫁給馬來西亞前首相 Najib Razak，而他也是一馬公司的創立者。

It all starts with a $3bn bond arranged by Goldman Sachs in 2013.

此案要從 2013 年高盛集團手上一筆 30 億美金的債券講起。

That was issued by a wholly-owned subsidiary of 1MDB incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, and the proceeds were earmarked for a joint venture with a firm in Abu Dhabi.

這筆債券是由一馬公司一間位於英屬維京群島的全資子公司所發行，然後又被提撥給阿布達比一家合資公司。

But instead of heading to the Middle East, most of the money was transferred into an account at Swiss private bank BSI, in Lugano.

可是這筆錢並沒有抵達中東，大部分的款項都被轉到瑞士盧加諾的一間私人銀行 BSI。

From there, the DOJ claims it was shifted to investment funds in offshore centres.

司法部認為這筆錢接著又被轉到海外據點的投資資金。

The money was wired by a correspondent bank account at JPMorgan Chase in the US to two accounts at the Singapore branch of Swiss private bank, Falcon Bank.

這筆錢從他們在美國摩根大通的帳戶被匯入瑞士安勤私人銀行新加坡分行的兩個帳戶。

Funds went back and forth between these accounts, adding layer upon layer of complication, gradually obscuring the origin.

資金在這些帳戶之間流轉，一層一層變得更加複雜，漸漸掩蓋住資金來源。

Eventually, $681m were transferred from Tanore into a Malaysian bank account held by Najib Razak, a sum he insists was a political donation from the Saudi royal family.

到最後有 68.1 億美金從 Tanore 帳戶被轉進 Najib Razak 的馬來西亞帳戶，Najib Razak 堅持這筆錢是來自阿拉伯皇室的政治獻金。

Five months later, most of it was returned.

五個月後大部分款項都被歸還了。

The money bounced around accounts at Falcon and DBS Bank in Singapore before a sum of $27.3m was, according to the DOJ, wired to jeweller Lorraine Schwartz to buy the necklace.

在這之前，這筆錢流轉在安勤以及星展新加坡分行的帳戶之間，直到其中的 2730 萬美金，根據司法部的說法，被匯給珠寶設計師 Lorraine Schwartz，買下粉鑽項鍊。

The complexity of these cross-border flows has made getting to the bottom of the 1MDB fraud painstaking and difficult.

這些跨國界的現金流使得 1MDB 醜聞很難一次查個水落石出。

But with Malaysia's government keen to burnish its graft-fighting credentials and claw back the money stolen, the investigation shows no signs of slowing down.

不過有鑑於馬來西亞政府急欲鞏固反貪腐的決心、尋回所有遺失的款項，這樁調查案想必還會持續進行。