Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons recovers Celsius shares in a 1MDB case

Russell Simmons is set for a large payout from nearly 10 million Celsius shares that were caught up in one of the biggest international money laundering cases of the past two decades. A Brooklyn federal court approved the settlement, and the stock is worth more than $350 million at current prices, though how much he keeps has not been made public.

Part of the recovery is already spoken for. AllHipHop reported that settlements totalling at least $8.6 million are earmarked for four creditors, women who have accused the Def Jam co-founder of sexual assault, so the money moves through him rather than simply to him.

The holding traces back to a $3 million investment Simmons made in 2015 through Nu Horizons Investment Group, a company he co-managed with Tim Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs banker. That bought roughly 3.3 million Celsius shares, and a three for one stock split in 2023 tripled the position.

The complication was Leissner. Federal prosecutors traced the money used for the Celsius purchase back to funds stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the Malaysian state investment fund at the centre of a scheme that moved more than $4.5 billion between 2009 and 2015.

Goldman Sachs raised $6.5 billion through three bond offerings for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, collecting close to $600 million in fees while billions were diverted into offshore accounts. Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy, bribery and money laundering, was sentenced to two years in May 2025, and is serving that term at Allenwood in Pennsylvania. He gets nothing from the Celsius recovery.

The scandal has reached music before, having drawn in Pras of the Fugees, and forfeiture cases have become a recurring thread in hip-hop coverage, as when prosecutors moved to take final ownership of Diddy's Ibiza tapes. Simmons has faced a long run of accusations, in a period that also produced cases such as Kanye West settling a sexual assault lawsuit with a former assistant.