Four ultra-rare special edition Bugatti Veyron hypercars were seized by German law enforcement officials in a raid at a private storage facility in Munich, Germany, last Friday. The quartet of stunning Bugatti Veyrons is allegedly tied to a massive scandal out of Malaysia in which billions of dollars were siphoned out from a sovereign wealth fund. According to news reports, a dozen officers and investigators from the country’s Criminal Investigation Department 7, which specializes in white-collar crimes, raided Motorworld Munich. The automotive event space in the northern part of the city is also used by wealthy individuals to store their prized automotive creations.
The four seized hypercars are part of the ultra-exclusive ‘Les Legendes de Bugatti’ series, which includes only 18 examples spread across six bespoke versions. The cars taken away by the cops include Rembrandt, Black Bess, Jean-Pierre Wimille, and Meo Constantini edition Veyrons.
All four special editions are based on the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse, with each example priced at $3 million when they sold new by Bugatti. It’s very difficult to estimate the current value of the hypercars, thanks to their rarity. Rarely bespoke models show up on the auction block.
While Munich police and related authorities have been tight-lipped about the whole raid and no specific details have been shared so far, the German publication Bild reports that it has a direct connection to the ongoing investigation of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. It involves the misappropriation of billions of dollars from a Malaysian government fund between 2009 and 2014. Prime Minister Najib Razak, who chaired the fund’s advisory board, was accused of siphoning off funds for personal gain and political purposes. Investigations revealed a complex web of financial transactions involving international banks, shell companies, and high-profile individuals.
Razak was found to have personally stolen $600 million and was sentenced to 12 years in jail in 2020. The four Bugatti hypercars are not the first set of high-profile assets to be confiscated liked to case. Back in 2018, the FBI seized a $250 million megayacht, Equanimity, to recover $540 million in assets allegedly stolen from the funds.
Update: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has linked one of four Bugatti Veyron that were seized to fugitive financier Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low), suspecting that the purchase was made using embezzled funds from 1MDB. Interestingly, the seized Equanimity megayacht also belonged to the same individual. According to a report by Malaymail, the MACC requested information from Germany regarding the cars back in 2022.
