A U.S. jury began deliberations on Tuesday in the trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of helping loot billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reported. Prosecutors say Roger Ng, Goldman's former top investment banker for Malaysia, helped his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from 1MDB, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman. The Malaysian fund had been founded to pursue development projects in the Southeast Asian country. Ng has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to launder money and violating an anti-corruption law. His lawyers said Leissner, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, falsely implicated Ng in the hope of receiving a lenient sentence. The charges stemmed from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. According to U.S. prosecutors, Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion through three bond sales, but $4.5 billion was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.
