1MDB fraud - greed, sex, bribery, corruption, and other juicy details are revealed in court trial.

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Thank goodness there is a court trial and the world can hear the juicy details.

Only Goldman banker to stand trial for 1MDB to get his day in court today​

A photo from May 16, 2019, shows banker Roger Ng (left) leaving a US federal court in New York. PHOTO: WES BRUER/BLOOMBERG


FEB 7, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Day after day, the scene has replayed: Roger Ng, a former Goldman Sachs banker, leaves his Manhattan apartment and, with an electronic monitor strapped to his ankle, heads downtown to build the case that might save him from prison.
It has been nearly three years since Ng landed in the United States from South-east Asia to face federal charges over his role in a scheme to loot billions from the Malaysian fund known as 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. In that time Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak has been convicted of crimes while Goldman has paid US$5 billion (S$6.7 billion) in fines and apologised for breaking the law, one of the biggest black marks in its 153-year history.
Now, at long last, Ng is about to get his day in court - as the only person in all of Goldman Sachs to stand trial in the US for a scandal that stretched from Singapore to Hollywood to Wall Street and beyond. He has pleaded not guilty.
Free on a US$20 million bond, Ng, 49, has been confined to his apartment except for runs on Manhattan's West Side, trips to the grocery store and his lawyer's office. He has spent his days at that office poring over millions of documents in the sprawling case. He sits at a desk that was previously occupied by "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli, who was sentenced to prison for securities fraud in 2018, in another high-profile legal drama.
Ng's trial, delayed for two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, is finally set to begin with jury selection on Monday and is expected to last at least five weeks. Ng faces as many as 30 years in prison.
"No one expected him to be here for three years," his lawyer Marc Agnifilo said at a recent hearing. Ng and Agnifilo declined to comment for this story.
While his defence team has cast Ng as a deputy to star Goldman banker Tim Leissner and the first to warn compliance about Malaysian financier Jho Low, prosecutors say Ng played a critical role in a bribe-paying and money laundering scheme.

By now the broad outlines of the 1MDB scandal, or at least its most salacious details, are well known on Wall Street. There is the gob-smacking dollar figure: US$2.7 billion supposedly plundered, the scheme greased by bribes to various officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. Some of the money went to a US$200 million superyacht. Some went to paintings by Monet, van Gogh and Basquiat. Still more went to finance a movie based on other real-life market mayhem: The Wolf Of Wall Street.
The US says the "brazen" scheme could not have been pulled off without help of bankers at Goldman Sachs.
Ng, the former head of investment banking in Malaysia, is charged with helping Low and Leissner launder billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB. He is also charged with violating US anti-bribery laws.

Low, the alleged mastermind of the fraud, has denied wrongdoing and remains at large. Leissner secretly pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiring to violate US anti-bribery laws, as well as to engaging in a money laundering conspiracy. Leissner agreed to cooperate with the US and is expected to be a star witness at Ng's trial.
Ng has said he was the first to inform Goldman Sachs compliance about Low, sending "red flag warnings" not to do business with him. Mr Agnifilo, Ng's lawyer, has also said Leissner cooperated with the US and implicated Ng to save himself.
Mr Agnifilo contends that Ng played no role in the fraud.
The case against Ng focuses on Goldman's fund-raising work in 2012 and 2013 for 1MDB that raised about US$6.5 billion in three transactions. The first was Project Magnolia, a US$1.75 billion debt-financing deal to purchase a Malaysian energy company.

While assuring superiors Low was not involved, Ng and Leissner allegedly agreed to pay bribes to officials to facilitate the bond deal, of which US$577 million was diverted to pay officials like Najib, prosecutors said. Low and others collected US$295 million, while about US$60 million was diverted to a company co-founded by Najib's stepson and helped finance The Wolf Of Wall Street, according to the US.
Ng ultimately received about US$35 million diverted from 1MDB into an account "managed and controlled" by his wife, prosecutors say. Ng's wife has not been charged with wrongdoing.
Leissner, who agreed to forfeit US$43.7 million and awaits sentencing later this year, could face as long as 25 years in prison. His lawyer Henry Mazurek did not return a call seeking comment.
Ng was arrested in Malaysia in late 2018 and agreed to come to the US the next year. Even if he prevails in the US, his legal battle will not end there: He still faces separate trial in Malaysia.

 

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Ex-Goldman partner to testify against former colleague in 1MDB corruption trial​

Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, departs from a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb 15, 2022. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

FEB 16, 2022

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Two former Goldman Sachs colleagues will face off in a Brooklyn courtroom on Wednesday (Feb 16) in a trial over the looting of hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, one of the biggest scandals in Wall Street history.
Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, is charged with conspiring to launder money and to violate an anti-bribery law.
Prosecutors said in opening statements at his trial on Monday in Brooklyn federal court that Ng, 49, received millions in kickbacks for helping embezzle funds from 1MDB.
On Wednesday, prosecutors will call their star witness: Tim Leissner, a former Goldman partner and Ng's former boss at the bank's South-east Asia operation.
Leissner, 52, in 2018 pleaded guilty to money laundering and bribery charges and agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation.
Ng has pleaded not guilty and his defence lawyer, Mr Marc Agnifilo, said in his opening statement that Ng had no role in the scheme allegedly perpetrated by Leissner and Jho Low, a Malaysian financier who served as an intermediary for deals in which Goldman helped 1MDB sell US$6.5 billion (S$8.74 billion) in bonds.
Low, the accused mastermind behind the scheme, was indicted in the United States alongside Ng in 2018. He has not been arrested by US or Malaysian authorities. Low's US lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

US prosecutors say Goldman earned US$600 million in fees from the deals, and that around US$4.5 billion of the funds raised was embezzled.
Goldman paid a nearly US$3 billion fine and arranged for its Malaysian subsidiary to plead guilty in US court.
Leissner will likely be questioned by the government about Ng's alleged involvement in a scheme to embezzle some of those funds, use some of them to bribe officials to win business for Goldman, and keep some for themselves.
Prosecutors have said Leissner's testimony will be backed up by other evidence.
"He'll give you an inside view of this bribery and money laundering scheme," prosecutor Brent Wible said in court on Monday.
Mr Agnifilo has countered that Leissner, who has not yet been sentenced, has lied to prosecutors about Ng's involvement in a bid to lighten his punishment.
He spent much of his opening statement attacking Leissner's credibility, portraying him as a socialite who stole to finance a lavish lifestyle.
Leissner's testimony was expected to start at 9.30am EST (10.30pm Singapore time). A lawyer for Leissner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

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1MDB case: Jury told Jho Low partied like there was no tomorrow​

Now-fugitive financier Jho Low had paid celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Megan Fox US$250,000 each. PHOTOS: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, REUTERS, MEGANFOX/INSTAGRAM

FEB 16, 2022,

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - A quarter of a million US dollars (S$336,000) for Leonardo DiCaprio. A US$385,773 bar tab. Five grand for "model wrangling".
These were among the expenses that jurors in the federal conspiracy trial of former Goldman Sachs Group banker Roger Ng heard about on Tuesday (Feb 15), as a government witness described how millions of dollars siphoned off in the 1MDB scandal were frittered away on lavish parties hosted by a high-flying Malaysian financier.
Ng is accused of conspiring with former star Goldman banker Tim Leissner to help the now-fugitive financier Jho Low steal the funds in exchange for kickbacks.
The jury in Brooklyn, New York, learned of invoices from a Las Vegas party for Low in which food, beverages, "talent" and "top quality models", among other items, added up to more than US$3.6 million. That big bar tab included 65 bottles of Cristal Champagne for about US$100,000 and a US$38,955 tip.
Ng, the only former Goldman Sachs employee to stand trial in the United States for the scandal, is charged with conspiring to violate US anti-money-laundering law to steal billions of dollars from the Malaysian fund 1MDB.
The expenses are what Low did with some of the US$700 million he made off with in the global fraud, according to prosecutors.
As the government described the fruits of a scam stretching from Malaysia to Wall Street, the jury got a look at some celebrity fees: DiCaprio: US$250,000; Paris Hilton: US$100,000; Megan Fox: US$250,000; Kim Kardashian: US$50,000.

Basically, the panel was told, Low partied like there was no tomorrow.
The sums flew by as Alex Cohen, the chief financial officer of Strategic Group, an entertainment and marketing company that arranged parties for Low, testified.
Cohen described a series of shindigs that featured guests and entertainers such as Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jamie Foxx and Fergie.
He said Low provided the entertainment company with at least 25 per cent of its profit in 2012 and that for one event it was paid US$5,000 for the said model wrangling alone - all allegedly fuelled by money Low took from 1MDB.
A July 2012 event Strategic handled for Low aboard a yacht on the French Riviera dictated that models be flown in.
During cross-examination by defence lawyer Zach Intrater, Cohen was asked why he had written "Strategic Escorts LLC" when referring to the company's efforts to hire the models.
"I was poking fun that there were women coming on this boat trip and we were procuring these women," he said.

 

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Ex-Goldman banker testifies ‘greed and ambition’ motivated 1MDB bribery​

Tim Leissner (centre) is pictured leaving court on Feb 15, 2022. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG


FEB 17, 2022

NEW YORK (REUTERS) – A former Goldman Sachs partner testified on Wednesday (Feb 16) that “greed and ambition” drove his involvement in a bribery scheme that looted billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
Tim Leissner, the former chief of Goldman’s Southeast Asia operation, is a star witness in the criminal trial of Roger Ng, the bank’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia.
The trial began on Monday in federal court in Brooklyn.
Prosecutors have accused Ng, 49, of receiving millions of dollars in kickbacks for helping embezzle funds from 1MDB. Ng has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to launder money and to violate an anti-bribery law.
Leissner, 52, in 2018 pleaded guilty to similar charges and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation.
Leissner said on the stand on Wednesday that Ng was Goldman’s lead banker on 1MDB and had cultivated a relationship with Malaysian financier Jho Low starting in 2008, who was the key intermediary between the bank and 1MDB.
Bringing in 1MDB business to Goldman, which ultimately sold US$6.5 billion (S$8.7 billion) in bonds for the fund and reaped US$600 million in fees, “instantaneously made us heroes” within the bank, Leissner said.

“My greed and ambition took over,” Leissner said, adding that the fallout from his actions had destroyed his life.
He also said bankers at Goldman were expected to be hired on every one of their clients’ deals, and that missing one was considered “unacceptable”.
“The main focus for me was whatever it takes to get these transactions done for Goldman Sachs,” he said.

Ng’s defence lawyer, Mr Marc Agnifilo, said in his opening statement that Ng had no role in the scheme allegedly perpetrated by Leissner and Low.
US prosecutors say US$4.5 billion of funds raised from the deals was diverted. The bank in 2020 paid a nearly US$3 billion fine and arranged for its Malaysian unit to plead guilty in US court.

Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng (left) is pictured leaving the federal court in New York in 2019. PHOTO: REUTERS

Leissner said that at a meeting in London in 2012, Low listed individuals in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi that he said would need to be bribed for a plan to raise US$1.75 billion in debt for 1MDB to win approval. An Abu Dhabi-based company was acting as a guarantor for 1MDB on the deal, Leissner said.
That list included Najib Razak, Malaysia’s then-prime minister, and Mr Sheikh Mansour, deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, who Low said “wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less than US$100 million,” according to Leissner’s testimony.
Najib, who was voted out of office in 2018, is accused by Malaysian authorities of receiving more than US$1 billion traceable to 1MDB. Najib, who has appealed a 12-year prison sentence, has consistently denied wrongdoing.
A spokesman for the UAE Consulate General in New York did not respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors have acknowledged that Leissner, who has not yet been sentenced, will receive a lighter punishment as a result of his cooperation, but said Leissner’s testimony will be backed up by other evidence.

Mr Agnifilo has countered that Leissner lied to prosecutors about Ng’s involvement. He spent much of his opening statement attacking Leissner’s credibility, portraying him as a socialite who stole to finance a lavish lifestyle.
A lawyer for Leissner declined to comment.
Low, the accused mastermind behind the scheme, was indicted in the United States alongside Ng in 2018. He has not been arrested by US or Malaysian authorities. Low’s US lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

 

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Ex-Goldman banker's 1MDB trial to pause after US documents blunder​

Roger Ng (left, in 2019) is the only Goldman Sachs Group banker to go to trial in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. PHOTO: REUTERS

FEB 24, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - Tim Leissner was supposed to be the US government's star witness in the bribery case against Roger Ng, the only Goldman Sachs Group banker to go to trial in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. Instead, crucial evidence regarding Leissner could end up tanking the case, after the US disclosed that it failed to turn over to the defence more than 15,500 documents related to him.
On Wednesday (Feb 23), the judge said she would pause the trial to give the defence time to review the newly disclosed evidence, which the government says it discovered on Tuesday night.
In a hearing outside the jury's presence, Ng's lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the court he may ask for a mistrial.
"In the middle of the night, we got a letter from the government describing by its own admission an 'inexcusable' discovery disclosure," an angry Agnifilo told US District Judge Margo Brodie in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
He added that he had complained for at least two and a half years about the government's "slow-walking" evidence he needs to defend his client.
"The government absolutely did not live up to its obligation," Agnifilo said. "This is a categorically serious failure. This is unforgivable."
In a letter filed with the court, prosecutors had admitted they failed to share the evidence related to Leissner, who was Ng's boss at Goldman.

Leissner is crucial to the government's argument Ng conspired with him, while Ng's lawyers said on Wednesday that the documents support their argument that Ng played no role in the scheme.
The error "is inexcusable," prosecutor Alixandra Smith said in the letter.

US$35m payment​

Agnifilo said some of the evidence he has reviewed rebuts the government's claims that Leissner, who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors, paid Ng a US$35 million (S$47 million) kickback for his role in the 1MDB scandal. Agnifilo said the evidence supports the defence theory that the money was a transfer from Leissner's wife to Ng's wife for a separate business transaction.
He told the judge he is considering making a request for a mistrial and even asking Brodie to grant a dismissal of the indictment and all criminal charges against Ng.

Key witness Tim Leissner (centre) leaves the court in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb 15, 2022. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Brodie said she would pause the trial after Leissner finishes his direct testimony so the defence can catch up before its cross-examination.
Wednesday's disclosure comes after prosecutors in Manhattan federal court were dressed down two years ago for their failure to turn over evidence in a case involving sanctions. US District Judge Alison Nathan issued a blistering opinion in September 2020 stating there were "serious and pervasive issues" involving disclosure and misleading statements by the government attorneys. She called for an investigation and required that every prosecutor in that office read her decision.

 

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Blankfein meeting was to get Najib kids Goldman jobs, 1MDB jury told​

Ex-Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein (left) met in 2009 with then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak ahead of US$6.5 billion in bond deals for the country's wealth fund. PHOTOS: REUTERS
UPDATED

FEB 23, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG, THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The star witness in the bribery trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng testified that ex-Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein met in 2009 with the Malaysian prime minister ahead of US$6.5 billion (S$8.7 billion) in bond deals for the country's wealth fund - and that the meeting came with an agenda.
In return for the lucrative business, Goldman was to get then-prime minister Najib Razak's three children jobs at the bank, former Southeast Asia chairman Tim Leissner told the jury on Tuesday (Feb 22) about the 1MDB scheme. Leissner, 52, was describing the lengths he said he and his subordinate Ng went to in helping Malaysian financier Jho Low loot billions of dollars from the Malaysian fund.
"Just met PM's three children with Jho at his apartment," Leissner read to the jurors, in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, from an email Ng sent him.
"We'll work on getting them to join GS." Leissner replied to Ng: "Sounds good my friend. Get them in."
In the end, he told the jury, he just helped get Najib's daughter, Nooryana Najwa Najib, a job at TPG.
On Wednesday Najib said none of his children had ever worked at or been offered jobs at Goldman Sachs.
“While the headlines in local media hinted that I was bribed by Goldman Sachs with offers to (get) my children work at the bank, what former South-East Asia chairman Tim Leissner described was their attempt to bribe me,” he posted on his Facebook page. “This didn’t happen and none of my children was ever offered a job at Goldman Sachs and had never worked at that US bank.”


He said Leisnner made the introductions for his daughter to apply for a job at TPG Capital in Hong Kong, which has nothing to do with Goldman Sachs. “The position was not even high – just as an investor relations professional,” he said.
It was Leissner's second day of testimony in the trial of Ng, the bank's former head of investment banking in Malaysia. Ng, 49, is charged with conspiring with Leissner and Low to launder money embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, and violate US anti-bribery laws. He is the only former Goldman banker to go on trial in the scandal.
The case against Ng, whom Leissner described as the "relationship banker" who introduced him and Goldman colleagues to Low, focuses on Goldman's fund-raising work in 2012 and 2013 for 1MDB. Ng has argued he was the first to inform Goldman compliance about Low, sending "red flag warnings" not to do business with him.


Leissner has pleaded guilty to money laundering and bribery of foreign officials and is cooperating with the US for leniency at his sentencing. Low is a fugitive.
Leissner testified on Tuesday that Ng told him Najib was coming to New York to visit his children in the US for the Thanksgiving holiday and that Low thought it would be a good chance for Blankfein and the prime minister to meet and promote the bond transactions.
The meeting, at the Four Seasons Hotel, went off even after a New York Post report circulated among Goldman bankers describing Low as a "20-something Wharton grad from Malaysia who has burned through hundreds of thousands of dollars at the city's hottest nightspots".

Code names​

To obscure the role of Low in their fund-raising efforts for 1MDB, Leissner testified, he and Ng came up with code names for him including Friend and PMO (for the Malaysian prime minister's office). He told the court that he and Ng - along with senior Goldman officials including Andrea Vella, a former co-head of investment banking in Asia - used the code names to conceal the extent of Low's involvement in the fund-raising projects from others at the bank.
"Had we raised his name in his true capacity, we would not have been approved" by Goldman oversight officials, Leissner said. "It was a red flag that would have stopped the transaction."
At the same time, Leissner testified, he sometimes alerted Goldman compliance when he decided a deal wouldn't earn him enough money to be worth the "headache" of trying to survive the bank's vetting process.

Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng is charged with conspiring to launder money embezzled from 1MDB. PHOTO: REUTERS

One such deal Low proposed involved hiring Goldman to work on the purchase of a Kazakh gold mine, Leissner told the court. He said Low asked for Leissner's and Ng's help even after Goldman had rejected him as a private wealth client because there were concerns about the source of his wealth. Leissner said he went straight to compliance.
"It was going to be painful, and it wasn't going to be big enough for us," he said.
Low was "essential" in helping Goldman win business in Malaysia because he was not only the "key decision-maker" in advising the Malaysian king during the establishment of TIA, 1MDB's predecessor, but also secretly fed Goldman bankers inside information about how the fund was choosing a bank to advise it, Leissner told the jury.
Goldman was competing for the business - which earned it at least US$100 million - with JPMorgan Chase, UBS and other big banks, Leissner said. Prosecutor Drew Rolle asked him if it was like having the answers to a test ahead of time.
"Yes," Leissner said. "Because we wrote them."

Leissner also testified on Tuesday that a media CEO with whom he had an affair blackmailed him into buying her a US$10 million home.
Asked by Rolle about his extramarital affairs, Leissner cited several, including one with Rohana Rozhan, former chief executive officer of media company Astro Malaysia. The relationship lasted from 2003 to 2013, he told the jury.
Rolle asked Leissner whether he had ever given Rozhan any money he received from his 1MDB work.
Leissner said he had - and that he bought her a US$10 million home in London in 2013 after she'd threatened to expose his involvement with 1MDB.

 

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This juicy revelation was not reported in the Straits Times and local media. Hmm....

Ex-Goldman Banker Says Ex-Astro CEO Blackmailed Him Into Buying RM42M Home With 1MDB Money​

Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd's former chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Rohana Rozhan allegedly knew about the 1MDB scandal two years ahead of the exposé.

By Yap Wan Xiang
23 Feb 2022, 02:40 PM

Former Goldman Sachs Group partner Tim Leissner revealed yesterday, 23 February, that he had spent about RM41.8 million to shut the mouth of a Malaysian from exposing the 1MDB scandal back in 2013​

The bank's former Southeast Asia operation chief dropped the bombshell during the 1MDB trial at the US Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday while he testified against his former colleague Roger Ng, who is a Malaysian.

Ng is the bank's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, and to date, he is the only Goldman Sachs banker to have claimed trial in the 1MDB case in the US, reported Malay Mail.

Leissner is the US government's star witness in the 1MDB case, as he has collaborated with the authorities for a lighter sentence after pleading guilty in the case and forfeiting USD43 million (about RM180 million).

Bloomberg reported that Leissner was blackmailed by Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd's former chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Rohana Rozhan into buying her a USD10 million (about RM41.8 million) house in London, UK.

According to Leissner, Rohana threatened to expose his involvement with 1MDB.

Goldman Sachs' former former head of investment banking in Malaysia, Roger Ng.
Image via Wes Bruer/Bloomberg

"Ms Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, with Kimora," Leissner testified, referring to his model wife, Kimora Lee Simmons​

"If I didn't buy her a house, she would tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scandal. She was threatening to expose me. At the time, 2013, I was very fearful of that."

Leissner told the court that he brought the issue up to his then-boss, former Asia head Richard Gnodde, about Rozhan's demand.

He said it was a sensitive issue as Goldman Sachs had business dealings with Astro Malaysia.

Gnodde, who now runs the bank's international business, told Leissner to "be careful about relationships with clients", reported Bloomberg.

Astro Malaysia's former CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan.
Image via New Straits Times

Despite the warning, Leissner continued dating Rozhan for another 10 years​

"Pretty much everybody in our Southeast Asia territory knew it," he said.

Leissner married his TV personality wife in 2013.

In earlier proceedings, Ng's defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo told jurors that the witness is a "double bigamist", a person who commits the crime of marrying someone when they are already legally married to someone else.

Agnifilo claimed that Leissner committed the offence "twice" in his lifetime.

Tim Leissner with his wife Kimora Lee Simmons.
Image via AFP via Malay Mail
Rohana resigned from Astro Malaysia's top post in February 2019, reported New Straits Times.

At that time, her resignation was said to have no relation to any allegations of data leak or political reasons.

If Leissner's testimony was true, it would mean that Rohana had known about the 1MDB scandal two years earlier than the public, as the scandal involving the sovereign investment company was not exposed until 2015.

Bloomberg has reached out to Astro Malaysia for a comment but did not immediately receive a response.

 

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1MDB: Najib's daughter says she got ex-Goldman banker's help for a job at TPG Capital​

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak with his daughter Nooryana Najwa Najib in a post on Instagram on June 5, 2019. PHOTO: YANANAJIB/INSTAGRAM


FEB 24, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) - The daughter of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said she got a job with TPG Capital after Tim Leissner, a former Goldman Sachs Group banker and star witness in the ongoing bribery trial linked to 1MDB in the US, made the introductions.
Ms Nooryana Najwa Najib said the introduction to TPG was made after she was told that getting a job with Goldman Sachs' "demanding analyst programme" could be a conflict of interest given that the investment bank does business with the Malaysian government.
Her comments, made on Facebook, confirm the close relationship that Leissner, Goldman's former South-east Asia chairman, and his former colleague Roger Ng enjoyed with Najib and his family.
Leissner is testifying against Ng, who prosecutors say received millions of dollars in kickbacks for helping to embezzle funds from state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which was founded by Najib in 2009 to promote economic development in Malaysia.
"Meeting senior banking professionals such as Roger Ng and Tim Leissner was nothing more than an opportunity to learn more about Goldman Sachs' demanding analyst programme," she said in the post in response to Leissner's testimony that he tried to get Najib's children jobs at Goldman in return for business.
"Any college senior will attest that you need to do your groundwork and network with industry professionals in order to land a competitive job that matches your interests," she added.
Ms Nooryana eventually interviewed as an intern analyst at TPG's London office.

"This meant you're at the bottom of the food chain. Besides your core job scope, you're also responsible for the spadework. You're the PowerPoint girl, the photocopying girl, the coffee girl and the delivery girl, just to name a few," she added.
TPG had a strict compliance process, and given her father's position in the government, Ms Nooryana said she was not allowed to participate in or work on any Malaysian investor accounts.

Najib in his Facebook post on Wednesday (Feb 23) said that none of his children have ever been offered a job at Goldman.
Leissner earlier pleaded guilty to money laundering and bribery of foreign officials and is cooperating with the United States for leniency at his sentencing. Ng has pleaded not guilty.
Leissner in his testimony on Tuesday said Najib wanted to get his children jobs at the bank in return for working with the firm on US$6.5 billion (S$8.8 billion) bond deals.
Leissner said he was worried it might be perceived as "a bribe in kind" when, at the time, reports had emerged about other banks coming under scrutiny for giving jobs to prominent families in Asia.
Ultimately, a Goldman official rejected Leissner's request, he said.

 

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I have never received any bribes: Husband of Malaysia's ex-central bank governor​

Datuk Tawfiq Ayman (left) is the husband of Malaysia's former central bank governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz. PHOTOS: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

FEB 24, 2022

PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The husband of Malaysia's former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz has denied he received any bribes as alleged by a star witness in a case linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Dismissing the testimony of former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner as totally untrue, Datuk Tawfiq Ayman said he neither knew nor communicated with Leissner or Roger Ng, the former Goldman investment banker who has been charged in the New York District Court with conspiring to launder funds.
"I wish to categorically state that throughout my life, I have never received any bribes from anyone," online portal Malaysiakini quoted Mr Tawfiq as saying.
Mr Tawfiq said in view of the ongoing proceedings in New York, he has been advised not comment further and will be seeking legal advice on the next course of action.
Ng, 49, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, is charged with conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law, while Leissner is the star witness in the ongoing case.
Leissner claimed that Ng, a Malaysian, had told him about the bribery involved to obtain the central bank's "unprecedented" approval for the transfer of US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion) to PetroSaudi International.
However, he could not independently verify if it was true.

Mr Tawfiq's wife, Tan Sri Zeti, was the central bank governor at the time.
Leissner mentioned the alleged bribery when he was asked by prosecutors on his dealings with the PetroSaudi-1MDB joint venture project.
"In 2009 there were still capital controls in place and a billion dollars was wired overnight to the joint-venture because the husband of the then governor had received a bribe," said Leissner.
"So overnight that money was transferred which was unprecedented at that time as no approval was obtained that quickly from Bank Negara," he said.
It was reported on Jan 24 that Mr Tawfiq and former minister in the prime minister's department Nor Mohamed Yakcop were being investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over 1MDB funds.

In response to Leissner's testimony, Bank Negara on Thursday (Feb 24) said that all investments abroad by resident entities are subject to the requirements under the Exchange Control Act (ECA) 1953 which was in force until 2013 and replaced by the Financial Services Act 2013.
On Thursday Malaysian lawmaker Lim Lip Eng asked if the relevant authorities would investigate the allegations raised in Leissner's testimony in court.
"Why have there not been any arrests despite the authorities being aware of Leissner's testimony? How much longer do the people have to wait?" said Mr Lim, MP for Kepong and a member of the oppposition Democratic Action Party, in a statement issued on Thursday.

 

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In 1MDB scam, sheikh wouldn't get out of bed for less than US$100 million: Leissner​

Tim Leissner's (centre) testimony about the alleged payments came in his third day on the stand in the trial of Roger Ng. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

Feb 25, 2022

NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - One hundred million dollars - that was the cost of doing business in the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scam, former Goldman Sachs Group banker Tim Leissner testified.
Leissner, 52, the US government's star witness in its case against ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng, provided a description of the payment system Wednesday (Feb 23) for a jury in Brooklyn, New York.
Leissner told of a meeting at which Jho Low, the alleged architect of the massive fraud, spelled out who he said needed to be paid off for approval to raise and spend billions of dollars for Malaysia's wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
On the list were officials from Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, Leissner testified, including Malaysia's then-prime minister, Najib Razak, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.
Low "said the sheikh would not get out of bed for less than US$100 million," Leissner told the jury.
Sheikh Mansour hasn't been accused of wrongdoing by the US. The UAE government media office and UAE Foreign Ministry didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Leissner's testimony about the alleged payments came in his third day on the stand in the trial of Ng, his former subordinate at the bank and the only Goldman employee to be put on trial for the 1MDB scandal. Billions of dollars were siphoned from funds meant for development in Malaysia.

Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 and his cooperation in the trial may help him get a reduced sentence. Ng has pleaded not guilty to money laundering conspiracy and bribery charges, and his defence lawyers say he warned Goldman officials about doing business with Low.
The trial was interrupted Wednesday by revelations that the government failed to turn over more than 15,500 documents related to Leissner. The judge has said she will pause the trial before defence lawyers begin questioning Leissner, and Ng's attorney has said he may ask for a mistrial.
The meeting Leissner described while on the stand took place at Low's home in the Mayfair section of London in 2012, not long before Goldman greenlighted work on 1MDB and raised US$1.75 billion (S$2.4 billion) for the fund, Leissner testified.

The project couldn't move forward unless 1MDB secured an outside guarantor for the debt it was about to take on, he told the jury. He said Low, who held no official position at 1MDB but exerted outsized influence there, was able to get that guarantee from the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi and its subsidiaries.
At the meeting, Low took out a piece of paper and "started drawing boxes," Leissner told the court. On one side of the page were several boxes for Malaysian officials who needed to be paid off, and on the other were boxes for the Abu Dhabi officials, he said.
Low said that at the top levels, payments to the Malaysia and Abu Dhabi sides of the criminal enterprise "had to be the same and be perceived to be the same," Leissner testified. "In my mind, that meant both sides had to get US$100 million," Leissner testified. "I can't say I was surprised," he added, saying years of working in emerging markets had taught him that bribes and kickbacks were sometimes associated with projects involving government officials.
At the end of his presentation, Low said Leissner and Ng would also be "taken care of," Leissner testified. "I was of course happy that I was about to make some additional money," he told the jurors. "I wanted to make more money, even though I was well paid at Goldman Sachs."

Leissner said that after the meeting he and Ng walked back to Leissner's hotel. "As Roger and I walked, we agreed we would never say anything to anyone at Goldman Sachs or outside Goldman Sachs" about the payments "other than the participants that were there," Leissner testified.
"Bribes had to be paid to make it happen," he said, "but we always kept it to the two of us."
Leissner testified on Thursday he also stole tens of millions of dollars from his accomplices in the fraud.
He said that "a large portion" of the US$6.5 billion raised through three 1MDB bond deals he helped organise with Ng was siphoned off to pay kickbacks and bribes to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. But the US$60 million in kickbacks he kept for himself wasn't enough, Leissner said.
When Low asked Leissner to "hold" 145 million euros (S$220 million) in a shell company in Mauritius, Leissner saw an opportunity. Because much of his money was invested in illiquid assets, Leissner told the jury he kept US$80 million for himself. He said he then borrowed another US$1.25 million from Ng, his subordinate at Goldman.
Leissner said his arrest in 2018 prevented him from repaying Ng any of the money. "I had the intention to pay him back over time but I didn't have a chance," he told the jury.

Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng is charged with conspiring to launder money embezzled from 1MDB. PHOTO: REUTERS
In his fourth day of testimony Thursday, Leissner delved into his personal life including how he lied, stole and cheated. It's a common practice for prosecutors to highlight the negative aspects of their witnesses to get ahead of anything that could be revealed by defence lawyers during cross-examination.
Leissner said he used some of the money he stole from Low to buy a US$50 million boat, part of the Inter Milan soccer team and a Manhattan apartment at 68th Street and Madison Avenue.
Some was also used for a down payment on a Los Angeles home he'd share with his new wife, Kimora Lee Simmons, whom he met in 2013, Leissner said. He said he also invested in a multi-platform media company called All Def Digital and in Celsius Holdings, an energy drink.
On Thursday, Leissner also confessed he was twice married to two women at the same time. He said he "faked" a divorce decree in order to marry Ms Simmons while still being married to then-wife, Judy Chan Leissner. He also told jurors he'd earlier falsified a divorce document in order to marry Ms Chan in Hong Kong in about 2000.

"I photoshopped the divorce document," he said of his 2014 marriage to Ms Simmons, a fashion designer. "Did Judy Chan know?" asked prosecutor Drew Rolle.
"Yes," he said.
"Did Kimora Lee Simmons know that?" Mr Rolle asked.
"No," Leissner said.
Leissner said Ms Chan wasn't as forgiving, In 2014, he wanted to put a US$900,000 down payment on a home in Los Angeles for Ms Simmons but said, "Judy did not want to make any transfers related to my new family life in Los Angeles."
Instead, Leissner said he faked an email claiming Low needed money. "It didn't work," with Ms Chan, he said. "I think she did some research on the Internet and found out I was trying to buy this house."

 

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1MDB case: Malaysia freezes $13.6 million assets of Leissner's alleged lover amid probe​

Tim Leissner departs from federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York, on Feb 15, 2022. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

March 1, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) - The Malaysian authorities have frozen about US$10 million (S$13.6 million) worth of assets as it investigates former Goldman Sachs Group banker Tim Leissner's claim that his once-lover blackmailed him over his role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is probing the case under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, the agency's chief Azam Baki said at a press conference on Tuesday (March 1).
The same law was used to convict former prime minister Najib Razak for his involvement with 1MDB.
"We have called Rohana to record her statement and have taken steps to freeze related assets or cash," said Tan Sri Azam, referring to Ms Rohana Rozhan, the alleged former lover. "We will continue our efforts to investigate and return the related monies to our country."
Leissner, a star witness in the trial linked to Malaysian investment company 1MDB, told a United States court last week that he bought Ms Rozana a US$10 million house in London in 2013 after she threatened to expose his involvement in the fund.
Ms Rozana tendered her resignation as chief executive of Astro Malaysia in 2018, just a month before Najib was slapped with his first corruption charges in relation to 1MDB.
She said on Friday she was cooperating with officials and did not address the allegations in a two-line statement.

Azam said on Tuesday the MACC intended to summon more individuals for questioning, including those in the US.
This would require the help of the Attorney-General's Chambers, he said.
Meanwhile in the trial in New York, prosecutors said they want to conclude their questioning of Leissner on Tuesday by having him tell jurors how he met with Roger Ng and their wives in 2016 to concoct "a cover story", to conceal their fraud tied to the looting of 1MDB.


Leissner is the government's star witness against his former subordinate Ng, who is on trial accused of conspiring to bribe officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi from 1MDB bond deals.
The alleged mastermind of the scheme, fugitive financier Jho Low paid Leissner more than US$60 million in kickbacks while Ng got US$35 million, according to prosecutors.
Ng's lawyer Marc Agnifilo has argued the money Ng received was a transfer from an account controlled by Leissner's former wife Judy Chan to Ng's wife Hwee Bin Lim, for a legitimate separate business transaction between the two wives.
Prosecutors are attempting to persuade the judge to allow the testimony, even though Lim's statements occurred after the alleged conspiracy ended.

They are relevant and could refute Mr Agnifilo's claims the transfer of funds was legitimate, prosecutors said.
Mr Agnifilo did not immediately return an email seeking comment. He has said that Ms Lim will testify about the transaction as part of her husband's defence.
The US said Monday in a court filing that Leissner could describe a 2016 meeting he had with his former wife, Ng and Lim after questions were raised about the role Goldman bankers played in the 1MDB scandal in a series of published news articles.
Leissner could testify that after the couples met with a "feng shui master" in 2016, Ng's wife said "they needed to come up with a cover story to explain why Ms Chan had sent money" to an account controlled by her, according to the prosecutors.
Ng and his wife decided "the best story would be to say that the defendant had previously invested in Ms Chan's real estate business", prosecutors said Leissner would testify.
Leissner would also say that Ng and his wife "would fabricate a story" about the origins of the investment, according to the prosecutors. Prosecutors said that after Ng was arrested in Singapore in 2017, Ng's wife called Leissner "in a panic", Leissner would tell the jury.
Lim said they all needed to have "a common story" about the transfer of the money and said Ng had disclosed to investigators "nothing else about them", and "downplayed the current contact between" her husband and Leissner, according to the prosecutors.
Ng's trial, which is in its third week, was adjourned last Thursday afternoon until Tuesday to give Ng's lawyers time to review at least 15,500 documents belatedly provided by the US last week.