Family who exposed 1MDB scandal publishes book about whistleblowing journey

Laura and Xavier Justo, the family who blew the whistle on the embezzlement of more than $3.5 billion from a strategic development fund known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad, have published a book about their journey: “Rendezvous with Injustice: How a family survived hell after blowing the whistle on the 1MDB financial scandal.”

The 1MDB scandal concerned a fund set up by Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak which was marketed as an economic development fund for the country. Associates of the prime minister allegedly received much of the stolen money and spent it on lavish spending sprees.

In 2014, Xavier Justo disclosed to journalists more than 227,000 emails from his time at Petro Saudi after exiting the oil company a few years prior. Those emails revealed that the company was involved in one of the biggest corruption scandals in history involving the 1MDB fund. Soon afterward, Justo was targeted, arrested and sentenced to 18 months of prison in Thailand.

While he and his family paid a steep price for blowing the whistle, justice was later served: In 2020, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in embezzling the fund.

The Signals Network has provided support to Xavier Justo.