The Justice Department filed civil-forfeiture complaints against more than $1 billion of assets allegedly acquired using funds misappropriated from a Malaysian economic development fund, according to court filings made public Wednesday.

The assets, which were purchased by the stepson of Malaysia's prime minister and people connected to the fund, include high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York City, Los Angeles and London, artwork by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $35 million jet. They also include rights to the 2013 film " The Wolf of Wall Street," the filings say.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak isn't named in filings, which were viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

But they describe a major recipient of funds allegedly siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. whose description matches Mr. Najib's. Descriptions of that individual, called "Malaysian Official 1" in the filings, include information about Mr. Najib's position at 1MDB as well as transfers into his personal bank accounts that Mr. Najib and other government officials acknowledged publicly.

The Journal reported last year how Mr. Najib played a key role in decisions at the fund—which Mr. Najib launched in 2009 to stimulate Malaysia's economy—including issuing bonds and firing auditors.

Mr. Najib, who has denied wrongdoing, repeatedly has played down troubles at 1MDB, which has little to show for its economic development efforts despite raising $13 billion. He has said 1MDB's real problem was an overreliance on debt that it has struggled to pay back and that "attacks" by opposition politicians hurt a planned public offering.

His administration has criticized the Journal, claiming its stories about 1MDB were false and based on "sources that may or may not exist."

Executives at 1MDB have denied any funds were missing and echoed Mr. Najib's claims that its primary problem was the wrong business plan. Mr. Najib and 1MDB didn't respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Celine Fernandez and Yantoultra Ngui contributed to this article.

Write to Bradley Hope at bradley.hope@wsj.com and Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 20, 2016 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)