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Roger Ng, the only Goldman Sachs banker who was put on trial for the $4.5 billion embezzlement scheme that raided a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, was convicted on Friday of violating federal anti-bribery and money laundering laws.
Prosecutors say Roger Ng, Goldman’s former top investment banker for Malaysia, helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from the fund — which was founded to pursue development projects in the Southeast Asian country — launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman.
Jurors in Brooklyn federal court began deliberating on Tuesday.
Ng, 49, could face a lengthy prison sentence after his conviction for being one of the alleged co-conspirators who helped steal $4.5 billion from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
Ng, who pleaded not guilty, was accused of using his position at Goldman to raise $6.5 billion for the fund through bond sales — only to then loot $4.5 billion and funnel the ill-gotten gains to himself and associates through bribes and kickbacks.
“The harm to the people of Malaysia is immeasurable,” prosecutor Alixandra Smith said during closing arguments. “It is deeply unfair to everyone else who plays by the rules.”
But Ng’s attorneys have claimed that their client is being scapegoated while his former colleague at Goldman, Tim Leissner, pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in court against Ng in order to receive a lighter sentence.
“Roger is basically the fall guy for this whole thing,” attorney Marc Agnifilo said. “And Tim Leissner is looking to close the biggest deal of his life.”
Ng, Leissner, and Malaysian financier Jho Low — who is now a fugitive from the law — were all in on the alleged scheme to defraud 1MDB, prosecutors said.
During several days on the witness stand, Leissner testified that he, Ng and Low used off-shore accounts and shell companies to “disguise the flow of funds.”
The money-laundering efforts also involved drawing up fake contracts with banks, he said.
Leissner testified that he received more than $60 million from Low. The money was funneled into accounts controlled by his then-wife, Judy Chan Leissner.
Leissner, the estranged husband of reality television star Kimora Lee Simmons, told jurors last month that he sent Ng $35.1 million through the shell entity set up by Ng’s wife, Hwee Bin Lim.
The trial has produced sensational headlines about Leissner’s lavish lifestyle.
While on the witness stand, Leissner copped to the defense’s claim that he was a “double bigamist” — admitting he twice “faked” divorces from women to marry others while he was still legally married.
Leissner has admitted to having several affairs, previously describing an episode in which a former lover allegedly blackmailed him into buying her a $10 million mansion after she threatened to reveal the tryst to Simmons, his future and current estranged wife.
With Post Wires
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