Corruption trial opens for ex-Goldman banker in 1MDB scandal
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal jury in Brooklyn will hear opening statements Monday in the corruption trial of a former Goldman Sachs executive charged in the multibillion-dollar ransacking of a Malaysian state investment fund.
Roger Ng's own lawyers describe the looting of $4.5 billion from the 1MDB state investment fund as “perhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world.” But they contend U.S. prosecutors scapegoated the former banker for Goldman's “corporate-wide" failures that enabled the colossal fraud.
In fact, his attorneys contend, it was Ng who raised the earliest red flags about Low Taek Jho, the Malaysian financier and fugitive known as Jho Low who is accused of masterminding the massive money laundering and bribery scheme.
Federal prosecutors say the embezzlement bankrolled lavish spending on jewels, art, a superyacht and luxury real estate. The spoils even helped finance Hollywood movies, including the 2013 Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Wolf of Wall Street."
A former head of investment banking in Malaysia, Ng is the only Goldman banker to stand trial in the 1MDB scandal. The proceedings in Brooklyn federal court are expected to last several weeks.
Ng, 49, has pleaded not guilty to counts of conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-bribery law. Federal prosecutors say he conspired with Low to launder pilfered funds through the U.S. financial system. They say he played a key role in a scheme in which laundered money also was used to bribe foreign officials.
Marc Agnifilo, a defense attorney for Ng, declined to comment. Agnifilo wrote in court papers that Ng “was absolutely not involved in the stunning crimes committed by others.” Ng's only role, he said, was introducing Low to “far more involved” superiors at Goldman.
“In perhaps the most...