The first foreigner was recently convicted in the 1MDB scandal. According to reports, Jens Sturzenegger, a former branch manager at Falcon Private Bank Ltd. in Singapore, pled guilty to six charges, including failing to report suspicious transactions and was sentenced to 28 weeks in jail and fined $89,000. His lawyer announced Sturzenegger would not appeal the sentence. While Sturzenegger was the first non-Singaporean to be convicted, there were three prior convictions of other Singapore bankers who were involved with the 1MDB scandal.
The conviction continues Singapore’s aggressive response to the 1MDB scandal as the funneling of much of the 1MDB money through the Singaporean banking system has put a black eye on a country which prides itself one doing banking in compliance with relevant laws. Sturzenegger was involved with several suspicious transactions including a transfer of $378MM to account controlled by a key figure in the scandal, Mr. Jho Low. Another transaction was used to purchase some $130MM in art work.
