By Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner was sentenced to two years in prison by a judge in a New York court on Thursday after he pleaded guilty in 2018 for his involvement in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving Malaysia’s sovereign fund 1MDB.
Leissner’s conduct was “brazen and audacious,” judge Margo Brodie said during sentencing. While his cooperation with the government was taken into account, it did not make up for the harm caused by the corruption at the highest levels in several countries, the judge said.
“First and foremost, I offer my sincere apology to the people of Malaysia,” Leissner, 55, told the hearing, his voice breaking as he read a statement. “I deeply regret my actions.”
Goldman helped sell $6.5 billion of bonds for 1MDB, which former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak set up with the help of Malaysian financier Jho Low to promote economic development.
U.S. and Malaysian authorities have said $4.5 billion was siphoned away, with some diverted to offshore bank accounts and shell companies linked to Low, who is now a fugitive.
Leissner, former Southeast Asia chairman for Goldman, became a U.S. government witness in the case after his arrest in 2018. He pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and participating in a money laundering conspiracy, all tied to his role in the 1MDB scheme.
He was allowed to remain free after he agreed to help the government in the investigation and testified against former banking colleague Roger Ng.
Leissner met with the government on dozens of occasions, reviewing countless documents and communications he received related to the 1MDB scheme and other matters, according to a filing by prosecutors.
Prosecutors requested the court impose a sentence below the applicable guidelines range due to Leissner’s cooperation in the probe.
Leissner told the court that he had lost his freedom, family and financial independence in the wake of the scandal. The former executive said his health also suffered, and that he took pills and lost the will to live.
Goldman said in a letter to the court on May 21 that Leissner deceived his colleagues for years, culminating in the only criminal case filed against Goldman in its 156-year history.
Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly $3 billion fine and arranged for its Malaysian unit to plead guilty in U.S. court. It also clawed back $174 million in executive compensation.
Malaysia’s top court in 2022 upheld a guilty verdict against Najib for corruption and money laundering, sentencing him to 12 years in prison. The sentence was later halved by a pardons board chaired by Malaysia’s former king.
Ng has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law. The former head of investment banking for Goldman in Malaysia was convicted in Brooklyn and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but transported to Malaysia in 2023 to assist probes there.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar, additional reporting by Nupur Anand, editing by Lananh Nguyen, Chizu Nomiyama and Nia Williams)
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