He is currently not licensed by the SFC, it added. Leissner was licensed under Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Ordinance for activities including advising on securities and corporate finance for Goldman Sachs between Apand Feb. “We continue to cooperate with all authorities looking into these matters,” he said.Ī lawyer for Leissner could not be immediately reached in the United States outside of usual business hours. Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said it considered Leissner’s conduct demonstrated “a serious lack of honesty and integrity” and called into question his fitness and properness to be a licensed person.Ī Goldman Sachs spokesman said Leissner deliberately hid certain activities from the bank and repeatedly violated its policies and procedures. Leissner, a former partner at Goldman Sachs in Asia, pleaded guilty last August to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and agreed to forfeit $43.7 million. Goldman itself is being probed by the US Justice Department for its role as underwriter and arranger for $6.5 billion worth of 1MDB bonds.Īpart from Leissner, another former Goldman banker Roger Ng and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho have been charged in the United States for links to the alleged theft of billions of dollars from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.Īn estimated $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates between 20, the US Justice Department has alleged. The sanction is latest for Leissner who has already been barred from the banking sector in the United States and Singapore for his links to the scandal. Finally, this Note provides concluding thoughts on the scandal.HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s financial regulator has banned former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner from re-entering the industry for life for his crimes linked to the multi-billion-dollar scandal at the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. Part III explores how the Goldman Sachs scandal informs trends in FCPA enforcement. Part II describes the Goldman Sachs and 1MDB scandal in greater detail-focusing on the key players, what happened, and the indictments. Part I describes the back-ground of the FCPA and the current trends of FCPA enforcement. This Note explores what the DOJ and SEC’s enforcement in the Goldman Sachs and 1MDB scandal reveals about FCPA enforcement. Low even reportedly paid “a six-figure sum” to have Britney Spears serenade Low with “Happy Birthday.” The money once meant to help promote growth, prosperity, and economic development for the Malaysian people did not find its way there. Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, and several Goldman Sachs bankers-including Tim Leissner-attended Low’s birthday bash. He also used some of the money to throw an extravagant thirty-first birthday party in the Chairman Suite at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, which costs $25,000 per night. Low used the money to buy real estate, throw parties on yachts with celebrities, and fund movies like The Wolf of Wall Street and Dumb and Dumber To. As a result, Leissner, Ng, and Low violated U.S. Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low (“Low”), worked with the two Goldman Sachs executives to siphon off money from 1MDB. After bribing foreign officials to provide services, like underwriting three 1MDB bonds, advising 1MDB on an acquisition, and helping the company evaluate a possible initial public offering (“IPO”), Goldman Sachs made $606 million in fees and revenue Goldman Sachs wired payments that passed through the Eastern District of New York. Their desire to obtain business from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (“1MDB”) led to about $1.6077 billion being siphoned out of a sovereign wealth fund meant to help the Malaysian people that instead went to pay bribes to foreign officials and foreign officials’ relatives. This enforcement action made a statement, and it signals where the Agencies may take future FCPA enforcement actions.įor about five years, two Goldman Sachs Malaysia executives, Tim Leissner and Ng Chong Hwa (“Roger Ng”), conspired to provide corrupt payments to foreign officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”), and more specifically, foreign officials in Abu Dhabi. In October 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced the largest Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement action of all time against Goldman Sachs, the parent company of Goldman Sachs Malaysia and a first-time FCPA violator, at $1.66 billion.
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