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US jury begins deliberations at trial involving 1MBD scandal

A jury has started deliberations at a U.S. trial stemming from an audacious $4.5 billion scheme involving former Goldman Sachs bankers to ransack a Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MBD

Via AP news wire
Tuesday 05 April 2022 15:59 EDT
Malaysia Corruption Goldman Sachs
Malaysia Corruption Goldman Sachs (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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A jury began deliberations Tuesday at a U.S. trial stemming from an audacious scheme involving former Goldman Sachs bankers to ransack a Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MBD.

The jurors went to work after receiving lengthy instructions from U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie at a two-month trial in federal court in Brooklyn.

Prosecutors allege former banker Roger Ng helped loot 1MDB by raising $6.5 billion for the fund through bond sales, then diverting $4.5 billion of it to himself and corrupt associates through bribes and kickbacks.

ā€œThe harm to the people of Malaysia is immeasurable,ā€ prosecutor Alixandra Smith said during closing arguments. ā€œIt is deeply unfair to everyone else who plays by the rules.ā€

Ngā€™s defense attorneys have described the fraud against the fund as ā€œperhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world.ā€ But they contend prosecutors scapegoated Ng for crimes committed by others, including the governmentā€™s cooperating witness, Tim Leissner.

ā€œRoger is basically the fall guy for this whole thing,ā€ attorney Marc Agnifilo said. ā€œAnd Tim Leissner is looking to close the biggest deal of his life.ā€

A former head of investment banking in Malaysia, Ng is the only Goldman banker to stand trial in the sprawling 1MDB scandal. The 49-year-old has pleaded not guilty to three counts, including conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-bribery law.

During several days on the witness stand, Leissner testified that he, Ng and Low Taek Jho ā€” the Malaysian financier and fugitive socialite known as Jho Low ā€” used off-shore accounts and shell companies to ā€œdisguise the flow of funds.ā€ The money laundering efforts also involved drawing up fake contracts with banks, he said.

ā€œIf we told any bank the truth, it wouldnā€™t work. ā€¦ The house of cards would have fallen down,ā€ he said.

Leissner, 52, pleaded guilty in 2018 to paying millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. He was ordered to forfeit $43.7 million as part of his guilty plea and agreed to testify against Ng.

The embezzlement bankrolled lavish spending on jewels, art, a superyacht and luxury real estate. The spoils even helped finance Hollywood movies, including the 2013 Leonardo DiCaprio film ā€œThe Wolf of Wall Street.ā€

Low, who maintains his innocence, became well known in the New York City and Los Angeles club scenes. In 2012, he threw a lavish 31st birthday bash attended by DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian and other celebrities ā€” a fĆŖte described by The Wall Street Journal as the ā€œwildest party (Las) Vegas ever saw.ā€

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