NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) – A U.S. jury resumed deliberations on Friday within the trial of a former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) banker accused of serving to loot billions of {dollars} from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
Prosecutors say Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s former prime funding banker for Malaysia, helped his then-boss Tim Leissner embezzle cash from the fund — which was based to pursue growth initiatives within the Southeast Asian nation — launder the proceeds and bribe officers to win enterprise for Goldman.
Ng, 49, has pleaded not responsible to conspiring to launder cash and violating an anti-corruption regulation. His legal professionals say Leissner, who pleaded responsible to comparable fees in 2018 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors’ investigation, falsely implicated Ng within the hopes of receiving a lenient sentence.
The fees stemmed from one of many largest monetary scandals in historical past.
Prosecutors have stated Goldman helped 1MDB increase $6.5 billion by means of three bond gross sales, however that $4.5 billion was diverted to authorities officers, bankers and their associates by means of bribes and kickbacks between 2009 and 2015.
Ng is the primary, and sure solely, individual to face trial in america over the scheme. Goldman in 2020 paid a virtually $3 billion tremendous and its Malaysian unit agreed to plead responsible.
Deliberations started on Tuesday after a virtually two-month trial in federal court docket in Brooklyn.
Jurors heard 9 days of testimony from Leissner, who stated he despatched Ng $35 million in kickbacks. Leissner stated the lads agreed to inform banks a “cowl story” that the cash was from a reputable enterprise enterprise between their wives.
Ng’s spouse, Hwee Bin Lim, later testified for the protection that the enterprise enterprise was, in reality, reputable. She stated she invested $6 million within the mid-2000s in a Chinese language firm owned by the household of Leissner’s then-wife, Judy Chan, and that the $35 million was her return on that funding.
Ng’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, stated in his closing argument on Monday that Leissner couldn’t be trusted. A prosecutor, Alixandra Smith, stated in her summation that Leissner’s testimony was backed up by different proof.
Jho Low, a Malaysian financier and suspected mastermind of the scheme, was indicted alongside Ng in 2018 however stays at massive.
Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; enhancing by Jonathan Oatis
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