Ex-Goldman banker in 1MDB scandal asks Trump for – Business News
Tim Leissner, the previous Goldman Sachs banker who performed a key function in the 1MDB scandal — one of the biggest financial crimes in historical past — is asking President Trump for a pardon as he makes an attempt to skirt a two-year keep in federal jail, based on a report.
Leissner filed his pardon utility with the Department of Justice final yr, based on the DOJ web site. Bloomberg earlier reported on the submitting.
He is scheduled to give up to a federal jail in Southern California subsequent month.
Tim Leissner, the previous Goldman Sachs banker who performed a key function in the 1MDB scandal, is asking President Trump for a pardon, based on a report.
Leissner’s submitting follows pleas for clemency from different disgraced scammers like Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang, each convicted for stealing tens of millions.
Last week alone, Trump granted pardons to more than 20 people, together with a number of convicted of white-collar crimes – a transfer that has drawn criticism.
Goldman Sachs didn’t instantly reply to The Post’s request for remark.
Leissner, Goldman’s former Southeast Asia chairman, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy costs, admitting that he engaged in a scheme to steal $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
He turned the star witness during the 2022 trial, cooperating with the US authorities to share particulars on his former colleague Roger Ng – who in the end acquired a 10-year sentence – and Malaysian financier Jho Low, who’s thought-about the mastermind of the fraud.
At his sentencing in May, Leissner pleaded with the court docket to spare him from jail time, writing in a letter that the crimes had already price him his profession, marriage and time together with his youngsters.
Tim Leissner and Kimora Lee Simmons. AP
His lawyer argued that he performed a essential function in Ng’s conviction — and that Leissner confronted break-ins, slashed tires and threatening messages as a consequence of his cooperation.
“If I could turn back time, I would and I would do so without hesitation,” a teary-eyed Leissner stated during the listening to. “Unfortunately, that is not possible.”
US District Judge Margo Brodie ordered him to serve two years in federal jail, saying his cooperation “did not completely make up for the harm and devastation that you knowingly caused.”
The 1MDB fraud resulted in billions of {dollars} in penalties for Goldman Sachs. Reuters
The 1MDB fraud in the end toppled the Malaysian authorities, led to investigations in six nations and resulted in billions of {dollars} in penalties for Goldman Sachs. Low remains to be at massive.
The stolen funds had been allegedly used to bribe officers in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, fund lavish life, and even back Martin Scorsese’s 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Leissner – who personally acquired more than $50 million in kickbacks, based on prosecutors – additionally had his personal life thrust into the highlight, together with the finish of his marriage to fashion mogul Kimora Lee Simmons.
During the trial, he admitted to mendacity to colleagues, creating pretend e-mail accounts and forging paperwork – together with a pretend divorce decree he confirmed Simmons as proof that his break up from his earlier spouse was ultimate.
