Tim Leissner, the frustrating former Goldman Sachs banker at the heart of the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, has been sentenced to two years in prison, one of the most notorious Wall Street prosecutions in history.
Leissner, facing a 25-year prison term, told a New York federal judge that he stood before her "shame" and admitted that what he did was "very wrong". Wearing a dark suit, he became emotional when he mentioned that one of his daughters was recently rushed to emergency spinal surgery after a car accident. When he reached for the tissue, he said that being away from her was “unbearable torture.”
Prosecutors said Lesner's verdict marked a milestone in U.S. law enforcement investigation into the 1MDB incident in which Goldman Sachs bankers helped corrupt Malaysian officials abuse about $4.5 billion from its sovereign wealth fund. Leissner pleaded guilty early in the investigation and agreed to work with prosecutors and testified at the trial of one of his former colleagues, Roger Ng.
Goldman Sachs admitted to paying more than $1 billion in bribes to acquire underwriting work and paid nearly $3 billion in criminal fines under the U.S. Department of Justice’s resolution that spans Malaysia, the Middle East, Switzerland and the United States, swallowing up high financiers and politicians. The case also led to the indictment of then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was convicted and eventually sentenced to six years in prison.
NG was sentenced to 10 years in 2023 after a New York jury found him guilty of bribery and money laundering. Razak, who founded 1MDB, is fighting his imprisonment in Kuala Lumpur.
Leissner testified that he directed Goldman’s arrangements for three 1MDB bond deals in 2012 and 2013, which raised about $6.5 billion before former bankers helped Siphon over $2.7 billion from the Malaysian Fund.
He told the court that he spent about $60 million on a 170-foot yacht and real estate in New York and London and on 170-foot yacht and real estate against Italian soccer team Inter Milan.
Kathryn Ruemmler, the bank's general counsel, wrote to a judge this month that Lesner "lied widely and deceived many people" in the Wall Street group and "still not pay a penny back", a $20.7 million arbitration award that the arbitration award said in 2023 in a 2023 court that he owed Goldman Sachs.