His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, also gave the court accounts of Mr Leissner's deceit, calling him a "double bigamist" for twice being married to two women at the same time. Mr Ng's team had claimed the payment was part of a legitimate business deal involving his wife. They told the court that Mr Ng, who worked for Goldman from 2005 to May 2014, received Jho Low was indicted alongside Ng in 2018 but remains at large. Prosecutors said 49-year-old Mr Ng was central to the scheme, introducing Mr Leissner to Chinese-Malaysian financier Jho Low, the alleged mastermind and a confidant of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Prosecutors said Goldman Sachs bankers helped to arrange laundering of some of the money, some of which was paid as bribes to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to help win business for the bank. The charges stemmed from bond deals that Goldman helped arrange in 20 that raised US$6.5 billion (£5 billion) for the 1MDB fund, which was founded to finance public development projects.Īuthorities say more than US$4 billion was stolen and spent on art, diamonds and property – even helping to finance Hollywood movie, Wolf of Wall Street. You will be caught, prosecuted and convicted, like Ng, and face a long prison sentence." "With today's verdict, a powerful message has been delivered to those who commit financial crimes motivated by greed. "The defendant and his cronies saw 1MDB not as an entity to do good for the people of Malaysia, but as a piggy bank to enrich themselves with piles of money siphoned from the fund," said US Attorney Breon Peace. US prosecutors said the decision was "a victory for not only the rule of law, but also for the people of Malaysia". Mr Ng's lawyer said he was a "fall guy "and attacked the credibility of the government's star witness, Tim Leissner, who was Mr Ng's boss at Goldman Sachs and pleaded guilty to his role in the scandal in 2018.īut after a nearly two-month trial and several days of deliberation, the jury in New York convicted Mr Ng of conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-corruption law. He is the only Goldman Sachs banker to face a jury over the scandal, which rocked Malaysian politics and forced the bank to pay billions in fines. The former head of Goldman Sachs in Malaysia has been convicted for helping to orchestrate one of the world's biggest financial corruption scandals.Ī United States (US) jury found Roger Ng guilty on all charges in the trial, which concerned the looting of billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng (R) and his lawyer Marc Agnifilo (L) arrive at the US Federal Court in New York on 8 February, 2022.
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