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NEW YORK (AP) – An attorney for a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of being involved in looting billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund on Thursday charged U.S. prosecutors with withholding evidence that could show his innocence. client.
Roger Ng, former head of investment banking at Goldman Sachs Malaysia, also pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court to an amended indictment filed Wednesday night accusing him of conspiring to violate an anti-bribery law and launder money. .
The statement followed Goldman’s October 22 agreement to pay $ 2.9 billion in fines and have a Malaysian unit admit to criminal wrongdoing to resolve investigations by the Justice Department and other authorities into its role in 1MDB.
Ng’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said it was not until November 13, or 18 months after his client agreed to leave Malaysia to face the charges, that prosecutors revealed a large amount of new evidence provided by lawyers for Goldman during the bank’s own dealings with the government.
He accused prosecutors of waiting until Goldman “put $ 2.9 billion in the government’s pocket” before disclosing materials that, among other things, suggested that Ng had not violated the bank’s accounting procedures.
Agnifilo said it was “a matter of concern” that prosecutors were withholding “evidence that our client did not commit some of these crimes.”
Assistant US Attorney Alixandra Smith responded that “we do not agree with the defense’s characterization of these materials,” but prosecutors would provide potentially exculpatory evidence in good faith.
Goldman helped sell $ 6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB, a fund that former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had launched to promote economic development.
Authorities said fund officials and accomplices looted some of the money to spend on luxuries and Hollywood movie financing, while Goldman bankers paid more than $ 1.6 billion in bribes to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi for 1MDB businesses.
Tim Leissner, another former Goldman banker, pleaded guilty in 2018 to his role in the scandal. He has not been convicted.
The case is United States v. Ng, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 18-cr-00538.
– Reuters
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