Ex-Goldman banker Ng deserves 15 years in prison, U.S. prosecutors say By Reuters

Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday convicted the former Goldman Sachs (NYSE:) bank of facilitating the looting of billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. The court has asked the judge to sentence Roger Ng to 15 years in prison.

A Brooklyn federal court jury found last April that Ng, the former head of Malaysian investment banking at Goldman Sachs, accused former boss Tim Leissner of embezzling funds from the fund, laundering proceeds, and accusing government officials. Convicted of bribing and helping win business.

Leissner was Goldman’s head of Southeast Asia.

U.S. District Judge Margo Brody is scheduled to make a judgment on Ng on March 9.

In his own sentencing request on 25 February, Ng asked that he not be given a prison sentence and allowed to return to Malaysia.

He spent six months in a Malaysian jail before waiving his right to contest extradition to the United States in 2018. Ng was released on bail, but he had been under a curfew since his conviction.

The claim stems from approximately $6.5 billion in bonds Goldman helped sell in 2012 and 2013 by 1MDB, which was set up to finance development projects in Malaysia.

Prosecutors said $4.5 billion of that sum was embezzled by officials, bankers and their associates in one of the biggest scandals in Wall Street history.

In October 2020, Goldman agreed to pay $2.9 billion and its Malaysian arm pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

Ng pleaded not guilty and claimed that the $35 million kickback payment he was accused of receiving was in fact the return for an investment his wife had made.

Leissner pleaded guilty and testified against Ng as part of the cooperation agreement. He has not yet been sentenced.