Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker gets 2 years in prison for plot to billions of rands from Malaysias 1MDB Fund | Company Business News

NEW YORK (AP) – A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison for his role in a $ 4.5 billion scheme to regain a Malaysian investment fund. During his sentencing in the Federal Court in Brooklyn, Tim Leissner apologized for the people of Malaysia, which he called the ‘real victims’ of the scheme. “The funds raised more than a decade ago could have benefited the country and its citizens deeply,” he said in a statement in court and provided by his attorneys. “Instead, because of my greed – and the greed of those involved next to me – they were used wrong.” Prosecutors said Leissner and other Goldman Sachs bankers helped the Malaysian Investment Fund known as 1MBD, or 1Malaysia development Berhad State Fund, $ 6.5 billion through bond sales. But they say more than $ 4.5 billion of the funds were stolen and washed by bribes and setbacks. The spoil brought excessive purchases, from wild parties to lavish spending on jewelery, art, a superjacht and luxury real estate, prosecutors said. They also helped finance the 2013 Martin Scorsese film “The Wolf of Wall Street” that Leonardo DiCaprio played. The scandal led to the fall of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government in 2018. Najib was later convicted by a Malaysian court of abuse of power and other crimes related to the scandal and sentenced to 12 years in prison. “What we did was unequivocally wrong, and I take full responsibility for my role,” Leissner said Thursday. “I regret my actions, and if I could turn back time, I would undo them without hesitation.” In 2018, Leissner pleaded guilty to the bribe of government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi. He served as an important witness of the government in the trial of Roger NG, a fellow -front Goldman Sachs banker who was sentenced in federal prison in 2023 to ten years. NG’s advocates described the looting of 1MDB as “perhaps the greatest heist in the history of the world”, but maintained the prosecutors who set him up for crimes committed by others, including the higher ranking liesner. Prosecutors refused to comment on Thursday’s sentence. They did not seek a specific imprisonment before sentencing, while advocates for Leissner sought a sentence of the time already obsolete. Leissner will report to the prison on September 15 and his attorneys have requested that he be sent to the Federal Prison in Otisville, New York. Leissner’s attorney Henry Mazurek said his client is willing to serve his sentence. It contains two years of release under supervision to prison and forfeiture a total of $ 43.7 million, which has already been paid. “Mr. Leissner not only worked together to be longing for sentencing, but to show his true remorse for his actions and to tell the full story of 1MDB and Goldman Sachs,” Mazurek said in ‘Ne -mail. “He did it and will continue to tell everyone who will listen to the toxic culture at Goldman who inspired the 1MDB scheme.”