Singapore said Thursday it had seized nearly $180 million linked to scandal-tainted Malaysian state fund 1MDB, raising the pressure a day after Washington moved to grab more than $1 billion in assets over "enormous" fraud. The back-to-back announcements are the clearest and most damning steps yet taken in more than a year of Malaysian tumult over 1MDB, which was founded and overseen by Prime Minister Najib Razak. The US Justice Department filed lawsuits Wednesday to seize assets including luxury real estate in Beverly Hills, New York and London, artworks by Monet and Van Gogh, and a Bombardier business jet, saying they were purchased with money stolen from 1MDB.
