By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters), The trial against a former Goldman Sachs (NYSE) banker who is accused of helping to loot Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth funds will be halted because of late disclosures of evidence by prosecutors, according to a judge.

Roger Ng is Goldman’s former Malaysia head of investment banking. Prosecutors claim Ng got millions of dollars worth of kickbacks to help 1MDB embezzle money.

On Wednesday, the prosecutor’s stated in court that they had learned from Ng late Tuesday night that a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), division hadn’t shared with them any 15,500 documents relating to Tim Leissner. This was more than seven weeks after Ng began opening statements.

Marc Agnifilo for Ng told U.S. Circuit Judge Margo Brodie that “the government absolutely, absolutely and admittedly at the point did not fulfill its obligations.” He spoke outside of jury presence.

Evidence is arriving in drops and drabs.”

Agnifilo stated that the documents might be crucial for defense. Brodie called late disclosure “troubling”, noting that she had asked the prosecutors previously to verify all disclosures.

Leissner, who in 2018 pleaded guilty on similar charges, will testify against Ng (49), as the star witness for government. Brodie indicated that she would permit prosecutors to complete questioning Leissner. Then, the trial will be halted before Cross-Examination in order to allow Agnifilo to examine the newly created documents.

Brodie replied, “I will give your as long as you need,” but she also noted that Brodie could not delay the trial for too long.

Agnifilo claims that Ng got $35 million from the government, which they call ill-gotten profits. However, this money was actually earned through an unrelated venture between Ng and Leissner.

Alixandra Smith, Assistant U.S. attorney stated that the delay in disclosing information was “excusable” and she did not object at pausing the trial.

One of the largest financial scandals in modern history is at the root of this trial. U.S. attorneys claim that Goldman received $600million in fees from 1MDB for selling bonds worth $6.5 billion. But, approximately $4.5 billion was diverted. Goldman bankers also bribed bank officials to secure business.

In 2020, Goldman paid almost $3 billion in fines and made arrangements for the Malaysian arm to plead guilty before a U.S. Court.