Goldman Sachs may finally be able to put the 1MDB scandal behind it.
The bank has 10 days to pay the remaining $1.26 billion of a $2.3 billion fine it owes the US government, according to a Bloomberg report.
Goldman was charged with wrongdoing for bribing foreign officials to keep its business relationship with 1Malaysia Development Berhad but arranged a deferred prosecution deal with the Department of Justice last year to give itself more time to pay the massive fine.
The payment is triggered by a U.S. District Judge’s ruling Wednesday that the bank’s Malaysia division is guilty and must pay $500,000.
The Goldman executives responsible for the misdealing, Roger Ng and Tim Leissner, have been barred from working in the securities industry again. The pair brought in an eye-popping $600 million in fees for Goldman during the height of their deal-making with 1MDB.
The Malaysian backed sovereign wealth fund gave kickbacks to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and became a personal piggybank for the scheme’s mastermind: Jho Low.
For Jho Low, who found the fund investors and roped in the PM, it was all fun and games until the feds showed up.
The playboy financier embezzled money from the $6.5 billion bond offerings to fund a lavish lifestyle of private jets, parties, and yachts for himself and his short-lived celebrity besties like Leonardo DiCaprio and Paris Hilton.
Jho Low’s stolen funds paid for a sumptuous 31st birthday party in Vegas that had it all: Britney Spears emerging from a massive cake to serenade Low, performances from Chris Brown, Ludacris, and Usher, and appearances from Kayne West, Kim Kardashian, Bradley Cooper, and Zach Galifianakis. He even dated former Victoria’s Secret angel Miranda Kerr, whom he showered with expensive jewelry.
In an ironic twist, some of the stolen money even went to produce Martin Scorsese’s film about financial fraudster Jordan Belfort, “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
But all illegal things must come to an end.
And now Goldman is paying the price–shelling out the largest ever penalty to the US for foreign corruption charges.
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