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The trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of helping loot Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund will be paused due to late disclosure of some evidence by prosecutors to the defense, the judge in the case ruled yesterday, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and to violate an anti-bribery law. Prosecutors say Ng received millions of dollars in kickbacks for helping embezzle funds from 1MDB. Prosecutors said in a Wednesday morning court filing — more than a week after opening statements in Ng's trial began — that they learned late on Tuesday that one U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) division did not share with them or Ng some 15,500 documents related to Tim Leissner, Ng's former boss. "The government absolutely, absolutely, and admittedly at this point did not live up to its obligations," Marc Agnifilo, a defense attorney for Ng, told U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn federal court outside the jury's presence. Agnifilo said that the documents could be critical for the defense. Brodie called the late disclosure "troubling," noting that she had previously asked prosecutors to make sure all disclosures were made. Leissner, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018, is testifying against Ng as the government's star witness. Judge Brodie said that she would allow prosecutors to finish questioning Leissner, then pause the trial before cross-examination to give Agnifilo time to review the new documents. "I will give you as much time as you need," Judge Brodie said, though she noted that the trial could not be delayed indefinitely. Agnifilo argues that $35 million Ng received, that the government calls ill-gotten gains, was actually derived from an unrelated business venture between Ng's wife and Leissner's ex-wife. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alixandra Smith said the delayed disclosure was an "inexcusable error" and did not object to pausing the trial.

A U.S. judge yesterday permanently barred former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli from serving as an officer or director of publicly traded companies, and ordered him to pay a $1.39 million fine for violating securities law between 2009 and 2014, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn issued her ruling in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's civil case alleging Shkreli defrauded investors in his hedge funds and raided his biotechnology company, Retrophin Inc, for funds to settle with investors. Shkreli had proposed a 10-year officer and director ban, arguing that his seven-year prison sentence and $7.8 million in forfeiture and penalties in his related criminal case were sufficient punishment. Shkreli became notorious and known as "Pharma Bro" in 2015, when he raised the price of the anti-parasitic drug Daraprim overnight to $750 per tablet from $17.50 while serving as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, later renamed Vyera Pharmaceuticals. He was arrested that year on fraud and conspiracy charges connected to Retrophin and his MSMB Capital Management and MSMB Healthcare Management hedge funds.

Two former Goldman Sachs colleagues will face off in a Brooklyn courtroom on Wednesday in a trial over the looting of hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, one of the biggest scandals in Wall Street history, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, is charged with conspiring to launder money and to violate an anti-bribery law. Prosecutors said in opening statements at his trial on Monday in Brooklyn federal court that Ng received millions in kickbacks for helping embezzle funds from 1MDB. On Wednesday, prosecutors will call their star witness: Tim Leissner, a former Goldman partner and Ng's former boss at the bank's Southeast Asia operation. Leissner in 2018 pleaded guilty to money laundering and bribery charges and agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation. Ng has pleaded not guilty and his defense lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said in his opening statement that Ng had no role in the scheme allegedly perpetrated by Leissner and Jho Low, a Malaysian financier who served as an intermediary for deals in which Goldman helped 1MDB sell $6.5 billion in bonds. Low, the accused mastermind behind the scheme, was indicted in the United States alongside Ng in 2018. He has not been arrested by U.S. or Malaysian authorities. Low's U.S. lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. prosecutors say Goldman earned $600 million in fees from the deals, and that around $4.5 billion of the funds raised was embezzled. Goldman paid a nearly $3 billion fine and arranged for its Malaysian subsidiary to plead guilty in U.S. court.

Opening statements are expected to take place today in the U.S. corruption trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker charged with helping to launder hundreds of millions of dollars looted from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, stands accused of conspiring to launder money and to violate an anti-bribery law. He has pleaded not guilty and Ng's lawyer has called him a "fall guy" for one of the biggest financial scandals in Wall Street history. The trial in Brooklyn federal court could last up to six weeks. Prosecutors are likely to argue that Ng helped two co-conspirators — his former boss, Timothy Leissner, and Malaysian intermediary Jho Low — launder funds embezzled from 1MDB and used some of the stolen money to bribe officials in the Southeast Asian country to win business for Goldman. Leissner, a former partner for Goldman Sachs in Asia, in 2018 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money, and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), in part by helping to pay $1.6 billion in bribes. He is expected to testify as a government witness against Ng. Ng's defense is expected to argue that he had no role in the scheme perpetrated by Low and Leissner, and that he even warned Goldman management not to trust Low. Ng's defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo has said Leissner falsely implicated Ng in the scheme in an effort to minimize his punishment. Leissner has not yet been sentenced. The scandal stems from some $6.5 billion in bonds that Goldman helped 1MDB — launched by former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to spur economic growth — sell from 2009 to 2014. But around $4.5 billion of that money was embezzled, according to U.S. prosecutors. U.S. authorities say Goldman earned $600 million in fees from the deals. The bank in 2020 paid a $2.3 billion fine, returned $600 million in ill-gotten gains and agreed for its Malaysian subsidiary to plead guilty in U.S. court as part of a deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), with the Department of Justice.

A former Goldman Sachs banker charged with helping to embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund will go on trial in the United States next week, in a case that could shed light on how the bank responded to warnings of corruption, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former investment banking chief in Malaysia, will be the first — and likely only — person to stand trial in the United States over one of the biggest financial scandals in Wall Street history. Ng's former boss, Timothy Leissner, pleaded guilty in 2018 to money laundering and corruption charges, while a Goldman subsidiary in 2020 pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate an anti-bribery law. Ng has pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law. Opening statements are scheduled for Monday in federal court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors say Ng and Leissner evaded Goldman's internal compliance protocols. But Ng's lawyers say he had no role in the crimes and that Leissner falsely implicated him in an effort to reduce his punishment. Leissner, Goldman's former Southeast Asia chairman, has not yet been sentenced. The charges against Ng, 50, are related to some $4.5 billion U.S. prosecutors say was embezzled between 2009 and 2014 from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a fund launched in 2009 by Malaysia's former prime minister, Najib Razak, to spur economic growth. During that period, prosecutors say, Goldman earned $600 million in fees for helping 1MDB sell $6.5 billion in bonds. But Ng, Leissner, and a Malaysian intermediary named Jho Low conspired to pay $1.6 billion in bribes to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to win the business for Goldman, according to prosecutors.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday it had seized more than $3.6 billion in bitcoin allegedly stolen as part of a 2016 hack of Bitfinex, saying authorities have also arrested a husband and wife in New York for allegedly trying to launder the cryptocurrency fortune, the Washington Post reported. Officials said tech entrepreneur Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his rapper wife, Heather Morgan, 31, were charged with conspiring to launder money. They are accused of trying to launder 119,754 bitcoin that were stolen after a hacker breached the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Prosecutors said the bitcoin was sent to a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein. At the time of the theft, that amount of bitcoin was worth about $71 million. But the cryptocurrency has appreciated so much in the years since that the total value is now around $4.5 billion. Federal officials said they were able to seize about 94,000 of the stolen bitcoin, with an estimated value of $3.6 billion.

Jury selection is expected to begin on Monday in the U.S. corruption trial of a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of involvement in the looting of billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reported. Roger Ng, Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to violate an anti-bribery law and launder money in connection with the alleged looting of billions of dollars from the fund. Goldman helped sell $6.5 billion of bonds for 1MDB, a fund former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak launched to spur economic development. Authorities said fund officials and accomplices looted some of the money to spend on luxuries, while Goldman bankers paid more than $1.6 billion in bribes to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi for 1MDB business. Goldman in 2020 agreed to pay $2.9 billion in penalties and have a Malaysian unit admit criminal wrongdoing to settle probes by the U.S. Department of Justice and other authorities into its role in 1MDB. U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie is expected to question prospective jurors about whether they can be fair and impartial. Both prosecutors and defense lawyers have suggested Judge Brodie quiz jurors about any work ties they have to Malaysia or Abu Dhabi, court records show. And Ng's defense lawyers have proposed asking prospective jurors if they had any view about Goldman Sachs, and if that view was "favorable or unfavorable." Opening statements in the trial are scheduled to begin next week in Brooklyn federal court. Ng was arrested in Malaysia in November 2018 and extradited six months later. Tim Leissner, another former Goldman banker, pleaded guilty in 2018 over his role in the scandal. He is scheduled to be sentenced in March.