Former Goldman banker Tim Leissner set to testify at 1MDB trial

Former Goldman banker Tim Leissner set to testify at 1MDB trial

A former Goldman Sachs banker at the centre of the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal is expected to take the stand in a New York federal court on Wednesday to testify in the criminal trial of his former colleague, Roger Ng.

The testimony from Tim Leissner, who has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate foreign bribery laws in connection with the 1MDB fraud, comes during the first week of Ng’s trial.

Ng, 49, has been charged by US authorities with conspiring to bribe officials and launder billions of dollars from the Malaysian state investment fund. He has pleaded not guilty. Leissner struck a co-operation agreement with the US government in the hope of receiving a more lenient sentence.

Prosecutors this week said Leissner’s testimony would provide an “inside view” into the 1MDB affair, which the US Department of Justice says resulted in the misappropriation of $4.5bn from the Malaysian state investment fund.

Leissner was Ng’s former boss, and the pair worked together on 1MDB bond deals, the proceeds of which were alleged by authorities to have been spent on luxury property, jewellery and expensive art, among other things.

Leissnerwas deemed a star banker at Goldman and rose swiftly through the ranks. By