A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for his role in stealing from a Malaysian development fund to pay billions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks that were used to finance lavish parties, a superyacht, premium real estate and even the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Roger Ng was convicted in April to a jury in US District Court in Brooklyn, but he continues to deny charges that he conspired to commit money laundering and violated two anti-bribery laws.
Prosecutors said Ng and his co-conspirators helped the Malaysian fund, known as 1MDB, raise $6.5 billion through bond sales – only to siphon off more than two-thirds of it for of bribes and to enrich themselves.
Ng hopes he will avoid jail time and be allowed to return to Malaysia, where he faces a separate prosecution. His lawyers argued that imprisonment would worsen his “serious mental health condition.”
Ng was extradited to the United States in 2019 after spending six months in Malaysian custody. He has been under house arrest for the past four years.
Federal prosecutors asked US District Judge Margo Brodie for a 15-year sentence.
His lawyers acknowledged that the theft was “probably one of the biggest thefts in the history of the world.” But they failed to convince the jury that Ng was the fall guy for the other two people charged in the $4.5 billion scheme.
One of them, Tim Leissner, Ng’s former boss at Goldman Sachs, pleaded guilty in 2018 to bribing government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. He was ordered to pay $43.7 million and became a key government witness during Ng’s two-month trial.
The third man, a Malaysian financier known as “Jho Low,” remains an international fugitive.
Ng, who handles investment banking in Malaysia for his company, is the only Goldman Sachs banker to stand trial. He said Leissner implicated him in order to gain leniency during his own sentence. Leissner has not yet been sentenced.
In 2020, Goldman Sachs acknowledged its role in the embezzlement scheme and paid more than US$2.3 billion as part of a plea deal with the U,S, government. The strong previously reached a $3.9 billion settlement with the Malaysian government.
The US government said that the theft of large amounts of money has harmed the people of Malaysia.
The fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was established in 2009 by Prime Minister Najib Razak to promote economic development.
The financial scandal helped topple his government in the country’s 2018 election. A Malaysian court would later find him guilty of abusing his power and committing other crimes related to grand larceny. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
But Najib acquitted last week to tamper with an audit to cover up wrongdoing.
The scandal has touched many figures in the US
A top fundraiser for former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Elliott Broidy, has been accused of running an illegal lobbying campaign on behalf of Jho Low to get the Justice Department to drop its investigation into the 1MDB theft. Broidy pleaded guilty, but later Trump pardonedso not sentenced.
A member of the hip-hop group the Fugees, Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, is also accused of being part of a conspiracy to help Low make illegal campaign contributions. Michel says he is innocent.
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