1MDB scandal: US Fed bars ex-Goldman Sachs executive Andrea Vella

Vella failed to escalate information he had about financier Jho Low’s involvement in bond offerings that Goldman underwrote for Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Fed said

According to the US Justice Department, Goldman earned US$600 million in fees for its work with 1MDB

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Andrea Vella was Goldman Sachs. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:45am, 5 Feb 2020Updated: 10:09pm, 5 Feb 2020

The United States Federal Reserve on Tuesday said it permanently barred a former Goldman Sachs executive from the banking industry over his role in Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal.

Andrea Vella, who was formerly co-head of Goldman’s Asia investment banking division ex-Japan, failed to escalate information he had about Malaysian financier Jho Low’s involvement in three bond offerings that Goldman underwrote for Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, the regulator said.

Malaysian and US authorities have charged Low in connection with the theft of billions of dollars from 1MDB, which was originally set up by former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak to fund infrastructure projects.

The Federal Reserve said that Vella “engaged in unsafe and unsound practices by failing to ensure” that Low’s involvement was “fully escalated within the firm”.

Vella consented to the bar without admitting or denying any of the allegations made by the regulator, according to the statement from the Federal Reserve.

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