To all of you who’ve been desperately waiting for another juicy business trial, your wait is over: Roger Ng, the former head of investment banking in Malaysia for Goldman Sachs, will stand trial in New York beginning today. He’s accused of playing a prominent role in a massive laundering scheme that plundered billions from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.
In one of Wall Street’s all-time biggest scandals, Goldman Sachs facilitated $6.5 billion in bond sales for 1MDB, but to win the business bankers bribed government officials and later funnelled a chunk of the money into extravagant purchases. Embezzled funds were used to buy a Beverly Hills hotel, a $200 million superyacht, and even to help finance the "Wolf of Wall Street" movie.
Goldman Sachs apologized for its role and paid $5 billion in fines, but Ng is the only Goldman Sachs banker to be put on trial in the US over 1MDB. The ringleader of the entire operation, Malaysian tycoon Jho Low, remains at large and is rumoured to be hiding out in China.
"Billion Dollar Whale" is required reading if you want to know more.
