Leissner faces as many as 25 years in prison over his involvement in the fraud that toppled the Malaysian government and led to investigations in six countries. Goldman, his former employer, paid more than US$5 billion to settle global probes related to 1MDB, including US$2.9 billion in one of the largest penalties in history for a violation of US anti-bribery laws.
Nearly seven years after pleading guilty to his role in one of the largest financial scandals in history, former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Tim Leissner is set to find out on Thursday if he’s going to prison.
Leissner, 53, admitted to helping siphon billions of dollars from the Malaysian investment fund, 1MDB, to pay about US$2 billion ($2.59 billion) in bribes to foreign officials while splitting another US$1 billion in kickbacks with others in the scheme. Leissner, Goldman’s former Southeast Asia chairman, cut a deal with US prosecutors that allowed him to remain free if he helped the investigation and testified against former banking colleague Roger Ng.
