Ex-Goldman Sachs banker gets 2 years in prison for plot to fleece billions from Malaysia's 1MDB fund

Key Points

• Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in a scheme that stole $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s state investment fund 1MDB.
• Prosecutors say the fund raised $6.5 billion through bond sales, but over $4.5 billion was laundered via bribes and kickbacks to finance luxury purchases and the film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
• The scandal led to the fall of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was later convicted and sentenced to a 12-year prison term for abuse of power related to 1MDB.
• Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018, cooperated as a key witness against fellow banker Roger Ng, and will forfeit $43.7 million plus serve two years of supervised release after prison.

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for his role in a $4.5 billion scheme to ransack a Malaysian state investment fund.

Tim Leissner, at his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court, apologized to the people of Malaysia, who he called the “real victims” of the scheme.

“The funds raised more than a decade ago could have profoundly benefited the nation and its citizens,” he said in a statement read in court and provided by his lawyers. “Instead, due to my greed — and the greed of those involved alongside me — they were misappropriated.”

Prosecutors said Leissner and other Goldman Sachs bankers helped the Malaysian investment fund known as 1MBD, or the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund, raise $6.5 billion through bond sales.

But they say more than $4.5 billion of the funds were stolen and laundered through bribes and kickbacks.

The spoils bankrolled extravagant purchases, from wild parties to lavish spending on jewels, art, a superyacht and luxury real estate, prosecutors have said. They also helped finance the 2013 Martin Scorsese film “The Wolf of Wall Street” that starred Leonardo DiCaprio.

The scandal led to the fall of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government in 2018. Najib was later convicted by a Malaysian court of abuse of power and other crimes related to the scandal and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

“What we did was unequivocally wrong, and I take full responsibility for my role,” Leissner said Thursday. "I deeply regret my actions, and if I could turn back time, I would undo them without hesitation.”

Leissner had pleaded guilty in 2018 to bribing government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

He served as a key government witness in the trial of Roger Ng, a fellow former Goldman Sachs banker who was sentenced in 2023 to 10 years in federal prison.

Ng's lawyers described the looting of 1MDB as “perhaps the single largest heist in the history of the world," but maintained prosecutors scapegoated him for crimes committed by others, including the higher-ranking Leissner.

Prosecutors declined to comment on Thursday's sentence. They had not sought a specific prison term in filings ahead of sentencing while lawyers for Leissner had sought a sentence of time already served.

Leissner is due to report to prison Sept. 15 and his lawyers have requested that he be sent to the federal prison in Otisville, New York, according to the prosecutors.

Henry Mazurek, Leissner's lawyer, said his client is prepared to serve his sentence. It includes two years of supervised release after prison and a forfeiture totaling $43.7 million, which already has been paid to Malaysia, he said.

“Mr. Leissner cooperated not only to obtain leniency at sentencing, but to show his true remorse for his actions and tell the full story of 1MDB and Goldman Sachs,” Mazurek said in an email. "He did that and will continue to tell all who will listen about the poisonous culture at Goldman that inspired the 1MDB scheme.”