A private equity firm is suing Goldman Sachs, accusing it in court documents filed on Tuesday of improperly trying to curry favor with the scandal-plagued prime minister of Malaysia.

The firm, Primus Pacific Partners, said Goldman provided bad advice to one of its clients to help the financial fortunes of the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak.

The prime minister and people close to him have been previously accused by American authorities of embezzling billions of dollars from a Malaysian state investment fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.

Last week, American authorities moved to seize multiple luxury properties that were believed to have been bought with the embezzled money by people close to Mr. Razak. Some of the money also went to fund the Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street” and to buy valuable paintings by Van Gogh and Monet, authorities said.