(Bloomberg) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the banker in the heart of a scandal linked to Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund involved in ‘serial lies’ and deception on the fraud, days before he is scheduled to be sentenced. In a letter to an American judge, Goldman said that Tim Leissner, the former chairman of Southeast Asia, has never taken responsibility for his actions in the multi-million-dollar fraud that has collected the Malaysian government. The letter comes after the US government asked for indulgence when Leissner was sentenced next week. The general advocate of the bank, Kathryn Ruemmler, wrote that Leissner’s attempt to blame the financial industry for his crimes “deprive and focus on the countless law -abiding people working in it and focus on the true motivation for Mr. Leissner’s crimes: greed.” Leissner, who pleaded guilty to his role in billions of rands out of 1MDB in 2018, became the US government’s most important witness. Prosecutors say his testimony was central to the conviction of one of his Goldman colleagues and a $ 2.9 billion fine against the bank, the largest ever in a foreign bribery case. “For years, Leissner has spent foreign shell companies, personal email accounts and personal devices participating in crime, evading detection and jeopardizing Goldman Sachs in the process,” Ruemmler wrote in the letter on Thursday, submitted to Brooklyn, New York. Leissner, 53, stares up as much as 25 years in prison after becoming the face of the global financial scandal that led to investigations in six countries. As part of the fraud, he admitted to being $ 73.4 million of 1MDB and another $ 80 million from Jho Low, the flight -off financier who was the architect of the fraud. Leissner’s attorney Henry Mazurek said that “the chutzpah of Goldman Sachs’ letter to the court is amazing today.” “Mr Leissner has worked with the Department of Justice over the past few years to expose the corporate culture and institutional greed that fueled the behavior that damaged the 1MDB project,” Mazurek said in a statement. Goldman and a spokesman for US prosecutors declined to comment. Prosecutors have said in their own court that Leissner continues to help with unidentified US investigations into ‘other crimes’, in addition to the 1MDB case. “Leissner provided information on the role of powerful individuals in a global scheme to bribe government officials in two countries and lead billions of dollars in bank accounts around the world,” prosecutors said earlier this month. But the bank counteracted that “from Goldman’s perspective, the efforts of Mr. Leissner in this regard deserve, of sanction, not praise.” In 2020, Goldman, who earned $ 600 million out of the 1MDB transactions, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US and pleaded guilty to his Malaysian unit on violating US bribery laws. The New York investment bank said in the letter on Thursday that he did not adequately address “Red Flags and examined the representations of certain members of the Deal team.” In his own filing, Leissner said he should be spared in prison at any time. He said he gave important evidence against former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Abu Dhabi Sheiks and Goldman and the US gave a road map to the complex money laundering scheme on 1MDB. “I know how terrible my crime was,” Leissner said in a letter to the judge. “In the process of telling the government and the world about 1MDB, I had to publicly have the fact that I help steal billions of dollars, not only from individuals, but also of an entire nation.” When he pleaded guilty in August 2018, Leissner blamed Goldman’s ‘culture’ of Goldman as a role in the fraud when he described his crimes. “During the conspiracy, I conspired a lot with other employees and agents of Goldman Sachs in accordance with the culture of Goldman Sachs to hide facts from certain compliance and legal employees of Goldman Sachs, including Jho Low,” he said in court. Leissner was still able to face legal action in Malaysia. Earlier this month, the country’s Minister of Home Affairs Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said that Malaysia had filed an extradition request for Leissner’s arrest with the US Department of Justice. -With help from Anisah Shukry. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg LP
Goldman accuses 1MDB banker of ‘serial lies’ before sentencing
