Former Goldman Sachs Managing Director Roger Ng was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fraud scandal.
Ng was found guilty by a federal jury in April 2022 of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and commit money laundering.
Along with Tim Leissner, former chairman of Southeast Asia for Goldman Sachs, and Malaysian financier Jho Low, Ng helped steal and launder billions of dollars from the Malaysian state-owned investment and development fund between 2009 and 2014, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The details: The Malaysian government created 1MDB to aide community development in the nation. It was funded largely by foreign investments.
Ng, a Malaysian citizen, and Leissner diverted funds from 1MDB, including those raised through three bond transactions in 2012 and 2013, which were carried out with Goldman Sachs, the DOJ said.
After pleading guilty in 2018 to conspiring to violate the FCPA, Leissner was ordered to forfeit $43.7 million and $200 million in stock. He is awaiting sentencing. Low is still at large.
Goldman Sachs and its affiliates have paid more than $5 billion in penalties related to the 1MDB scandal, including a $2.9 billion settlement in October 2020 with U.S. authorities and others.
Compliance ramifications: Ng went around internal accounting controls at Goldman Sachs in violation of the FCPA, the DOJ said. Authorities at the agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve previously pointed to compliance failures at the bank, including lack of oversight, internal controls, and risk management, that allowed the corruption to continue for years.
Goldman Sachs said it enhanced its compliance and internal controls because of the scandal. In October 2020, the bank announced it would seek to claw back approximately $174 million from Ng, Leissner, and others who engaged in corrupt practices.
Goldman Sachs did not reply to a request for comment.
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