Ex-Goldman banker’s trial in 1MDB scandal winds down
Roger Ng is accused of helping to loot hundreds of millions of dollars from a Malaysian fund
04 April 2022 - 16:58
byLuc Cohen
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Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, in New York before the start of the trial. File picture: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS
New York — Closing arguments were set to begin on Monday in the US trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of helping loot hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB development fund.
Prosecutors say Roger Ng, Goldman’s former top investment banker for Malaysia, helped his then boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman.
Ng has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-corruption law. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, acknowledged that he introduced Leissner to Jho Low — a Malaysian financier accused of being the scheme’s mastermind — but said Ng had no role in looting 1MDB.
The charges stem from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. US prosecutors say Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5bn through three bond sales, but $4.5bn of those funds was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.
Ng is the first — and probably the only — person to face trial in the US over the scheme.
Leissner pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 and agreed to co-operate with prosecutors. Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly $3bn fine and arranged for its Malaysian unit to plead guilty in US court.
During the nearly two-month trial in a Brooklyn federal court, jurors heard from more than two dozen witnesses. Leissner, the government’s star witness, testified in February that he sent Ng $35m in kickbacks from the scheme.
He said the two men agreed to tell the banks processing the transfers a “cover story” that the money was from a legitimate business venture between the two men’s wives.
Ng’s wife, Hwee Bin Lim, testified last week that she invested $6m in the mid-2000s in a Chinese company owned by the family of Leissner’s then wife, Judy Chan. She said the $35m prosecutors characterise as Ng’s kickbacks were her return on that investment.
Low, who was indicted in 2018 alongside Ng, remains at large. Malaysian authorities say Low is in China, which Beijing denies.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Ex-Goldman banker’s trial in 1MDB scandal winds down
Roger Ng is accused of helping to loot hundreds of millions of dollars from a Malaysian fund
New York — Closing arguments were set to begin on Monday in the US trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of helping loot hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB development fund.
Prosecutors say Roger Ng, Goldman’s former top investment banker for Malaysia, helped his then boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman.
Ng has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-corruption law. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, acknowledged that he introduced Leissner to Jho Low — a Malaysian financier accused of being the scheme’s mastermind — but said Ng had no role in looting 1MDB.
The charges stem from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. US prosecutors say Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5bn through three bond sales, but $4.5bn of those funds was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.
Ng is the first — and probably the only — person to face trial in the US over the scheme.
Leissner pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 and agreed to co-operate with prosecutors. Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly $3bn fine and arranged for its Malaysian unit to plead guilty in US court.
During the nearly two-month trial in a Brooklyn federal court, jurors heard from more than two dozen witnesses. Leissner, the government’s star witness, testified in February that he sent Ng $35m in kickbacks from the scheme.
He said the two men agreed to tell the banks processing the transfers a “cover story” that the money was from a legitimate business venture between the two men’s wives.
Ng’s wife, Hwee Bin Lim, testified last week that she invested $6m in the mid-2000s in a Chinese company owned by the family of Leissner’s then wife, Judy Chan. She said the $35m prosecutors characterise as Ng’s kickbacks were her return on that investment.
Low, who was indicted in 2018 alongside Ng, remains at large. Malaysian authorities say Low is in China, which Beijing denies.
Reuters
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