Ex-Goldman bankers Tim Leissner, Roger Ng banned from industry by US Federal Reserve
- The men coordinated bond offerings that allowed funds to be stolen from Malaysian state fund 1MDB, the regulator said
- Some of the diverted money was used to bribe Malaysian government officials
“Given the Department of Justice’s charges, this development is hardly surprising,” said Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael DuVally.
Leissner, who agreed to the Fed’s permanent ban, was fined US$1.42 million, said the statement. He has already pleaded guilty to charges brought by the US Justice Department, including conspiring to launder money.
Ng, Leissner’s deputy at Goldman Sachs, was indicted on similar charges in October. Last month, Malaysia said it would extradite Ng to the US after he had completed legal proceedings in local courts.
A lawyer for Leissner declined to comment, while a lawyer who has represented Ng did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Malaysia will try former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng before US extradition
The Fed has ramped up an investigation into how Goldman Sachs bankers dodged the firm’s internal controls to raise billions for 1MDB that later went missing, Bloomberg News reported in November, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Fed accused Leissner of taking part in a scheme with Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho and others to divert money from “several” 1MDB transactions, including three bond offerings underwritten by Goldman Sachs in 2012 and 2013, according to an order dated March 11.
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Low, a controversial financier, has been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from the Malaysian fund and using some of it to buy gifts for famous models and film actors.
Leissner in August pleaded guilty to US charges that he conspired to launder money and violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As part of the charges, he agreed to forfeit US$43.7 million and admitted to bribing officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates to get bond deals for Goldman Sachs.
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Leissner said he and others arranged the 1MDB fundraising as debt offerings because it would generate higher fees for the bank. He has said his behaviour was in line with the “culture of Goldman Sachs to conceal facts from certain compliance and legal employees”.
Leissner’s guilty plea, unsealed in November, did not say whether he was cooperating with prosecutors.
The judge in the case has said that he faces decades in prison under federal guidelines, though defendants are often granted leniency for providing useful information to authorities.
