By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, Reuters – Next week, a former Goldman Sachs banker (NYSE:) will be on trial in America for helping to embezzle millions from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign fund. This case could reveal how the bank responded in corruption warnings.

Roger Ng (Goldman’s ex-investment banking chief in Malaysia) will face trial before the United States for one of the most scandalous financial transactions in Wall Street history.

Timothy Leissner was Ng’s ex-boss in 2018. A Goldman subsidiary pled guilty to conspiracy to violate anti-bribery laws in 2020.

Ng has pleaded no guilty to three charges of conspiring against money laundering and violating an anti-bribery statute. On Monday, opening statements will be made in Brooklyn federal court.

Prosecutors allege that Ng, Leissner and Goldman evaded Goldman’s internal compliance protocols. Ng’s attorneys claim he was not involved in the crime and that Leissner falsely accused him to lower his sentence. Leissner is still not sentenced. He was the former Southeast Asia chair of Goldman.

According to legal experts, Ng will face tough odds because prosecutors could show email and chat records to the jury indicating Ng’s involvement as well as financial records proving he was a beneficiary of the scheme. Leissner will also be called.

Michael Weinstein is a Cole Schotz PC white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor. “They have quite a climb to go, considering that his boss turned on him.

Ng (50) is being charged with embezzlement of $4.5 billion U.S. from 1Malaysia Development Berhad between 2009-2014. This fund was established in 2009 by Najib Razak, Malaysia’s former prime Minister, to stimulate economic growth.

According to prosecutors, Goldman was paid $600m in fees by 1MDB in order to help them sell bonds worth $6.5billion. Prosecutors claim that Ng and Leissner conspired with Jho Lower, a Malaysian intermediary to help 1MDB sell $6.5 billion worth of bonds, to get the business.

Low hasn’t been detained by U.S. and Malaysian authorities. Malaysia claims Low is in China. Beijing denies this.

In 2020, Goldman Sachs paid $2.3 billion in fines and returned $600,000,000 in ill-gotten profits. The deal with the Department of Justice, also known as a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) was for Malaysia’s Malaysian subsidiary to plead guilty before a U.S. Court.

Ng’s attorneys acknowledge that he introduced Low at Leissner. However, they claim that he did not play any further roles in the scheme. He also warned Goldman later about Low being “not to trust”, according to a court filing from November 2020.

Marc Agnifilo, Ng’s lawyer, said, “He was not involved with Leissner, Low, and a host other people in this staggeringly massive series of crime,” describing his client, “fall guy”.

Agnifilo claimed that Ng’s financial inflows, which prosecutors refer to as ill-gotten profits, had nothing whatsoever to do 1MDB.

‘INSTITUTIONAL FAILURES’

This long-running scandal was exposed in 2015. It has had many consequences, and caused widespread outrage in Malaysia. Malaysian authorities accuse Najib of having received more than $1 million from 1MDB, after he was removed as president. Najib appealed his 12-year sentence and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Six other countries including Singapore, Switzerland and Switzerland have opened investigations into 1MDB’s transactions.

Dick Bove of Odeon Capital said that Goldman is unlikely to suffer any significant damage in Ng’s trial. Since his October 2018 appointment, Chief Executive David Solomon has restored bank fortunes and delivered record-breaking annual profits in 2021.

Bove claimed that David Solomon will not be pursued for the crimes he committed in Malaysia many years back. I’m certain there will be incendiary info that is released, but these pieces will only be an embarrassment to Wall Street.

Solomon blamed employees for the scandal in 2018, but he claimed that the company was following the law well. He also stated at the Oct 2020 settlement that the bank had “institutional failings”.

Bruce Searby, a former federal prosecutor, stated that Ng could find it difficult to claim he is merely a scapegoat because of this shift.

Searby said that the argument does not “take any responsibility away Roger Ng”. He is now a Washington-based white-collar defense attorney.