The former Goldman Banker’s prison term shows what his former boss faces

The former was sentenced to 10 years in prison Goldman Sachs Group Corporation banking Roger Ng This shows the enormous risk he took by going to trial to fight accusations that he helped carry out the massive 1MDB fraud.

It also raises the question of how much prison time a US judge will impose on Ng’s former boss. Tim Lesnarwho pleaded guilty and testified against him as the government’s main witness, when Leisner was sentenced in September.

Looting billions of dollars 1 Malaysia Development Berhad The fund was the mastermind before Joe Low, a Malaysian financier who is now on the run. The United States alleges that Low earned $1.42 billion, enriched the country’s former prime minister by nearly $800 million, and funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to corrupt officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

Combined with these staggering corruption standards, Ng received $35.1 million, while Lessner, Goldman’s former head of Southeast Asia and Ng’s former supervisor, received $73 million.

Lesnar will likely get a reward for his cooperation with prosecutors, leaving Ng as the only long-time Goldman banker behind bars for fraud.

“Ten years is a hell of a long time,” he said. Jeff Ifrah, a white-collar defense attorney and expert on federal sentencing guidelines. In comparison, he said, killing someone by mistake and being convicted of manslaughter could result in a prison sentence of four or five years.

Read more: Ex-Goldman banker trial exposes greed and graft in 1MDB scheme

Dennis KelleherThe co-founder and CEO of Better Markets, an organization that advocates for tighter financial regulation, said it “sends the wrong message” that the government is making a scapegoat for Ing while the high-level Goldman Sachs executives who oversaw 1MDB’s bond deals are evading it. prosecution. a a report A 1MDB report by Better Markets concluded that without Goldman Sachs, the fraud scheme could never have happened.

“Instead of going after these 30 Goldman officials and executives, the Department of Justice gave the bank a sweet deal, effectively allowing the bank to buy a ‘jail free’ card for its executives,” Kelleher said in an interview. Adding to the miscarriage of justice, the Justice Department only prosecuted one junior Goldman partner, Roger Ng.

A federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, convicted Ng last April of conspiracy to violate US anti-bribery and money laundering laws.

“This is one of the largest financial crimes in the history of the world,” said the US District Court judge Margo Brody He said Thursday before Ng’s sentencing was announced.

Quick look: How the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia shook the financial world

The 51-year-old former managing director of Goldman asked the judge not to issue any prison sentence at all, after the six-month period he had already served in a squalid Malaysian facility.

Brody said Ng was having a “great job, making good money, and he felt good”. The judge said “the only explanation is greed” and there was a “dire need” to deter him.

Roger Eng leaves federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on March 9.

Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg

Goldman Sachs has paid more than $2.9 billion to US authorities and more than $5 billion globally for its role in the scandal, with its Malaysian unit pleading guilty in the US to one count of conspiracy. The US penalty imposed by Goldman was the largest ever for a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Ng was arrested in Malaysia in November 2018 and extradited in May 2019 to face charges in New York, where he was released to home confinement on $20 million bail. On Thursday, the judge cited his detention in Malaysia as one of the reasons she did not agree to the plaintiffs’ request for a 15-year sentence.

Read more: Ex-Goldman Banker says Malaysian prison was ‘absolute hell’

Attorney Eng Mark Agnifilo He said after the ruling was issued that he would file an appeal.

‘Five difficult years’

“We are disappointed,” said Agnifello. “It’s been a very difficult five years, and the judge admitted that, and he listened to all our arguments.”

He pointed out that Eng is still facing criminal charges in Malaysia, and once his term in the United States ends, he will have to return to face them.

“I imagine the 10-year prison sentence will have an impact on them,” he said.

Brion peaceThe US attorney in Brooklyn, whose office handles the case, described the verdict as a “fair punishment”.

In a statement, he said Eng was “a key player in a brazen and audacious scheme that not only fell victim to the people of Malaysia, but also risked undermining public trust in governments, markets, businesses and other institutions on a global scale.”

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razzaq Received $756 million in the scheme, and Khadem al-Qubaisi, former managing director of the state-owned Abu Dhabi company International Petroleum Investments Company1MDB Transaction Guarantee has secured $472.8 million from a 1MDB forensic accountant. Federal Bureau of Investigation Testified at the trial of Eng.

“The government has already sent its message to the world about Goldman when it accepted its money in exchange for a deferred prosecution agreement,” Agnifello wrote to the judge on Wednesday, urging him to go easy on Ng.

The case is United States v. NG, 18-CR-538, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

To contact the reporter regarding this story:
Patricia Hurtado In federal court in Manhattan pathurtado@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anthony Lane in alin364@bloomberg.net

Peter Jeffrey, Peter Blumberg

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