Leissner had faced 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 paid more than US$5 billion to settle global probes related to 1MDB, including $2.9 billion in the US in one of the largest penalties in history for a violation of US anti-bribery laws.
Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Tim Leissner didn’t think he should go to prison for his role in the looting of the Malaysian investment fund 1MDB. Neither did US prosecutors, who praised his cooperation with their investigation.
But US Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn, New York, paid more attention to what the bank had said in a letter to the court last week, which pushed back on the calls for leniency for Leissner. She sentenced the former banker to two years in prison Thursday, saying that without Leissner, the massive fraud may never have happened.
