1MDB: US court convicts Roger Ng for bribery, money laundering conspiracy

SHAH ALAM: Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng has been found guilty by the US jury for his role in helping loot hundreds of millions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The verdict which came after an eight-week federal trial in Brooklyn, New York, was announced on Friday morning.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Ng, who was the only Goldman Sachs banker to go to trial over the scandal was convicted on two counts of conspiring to violate US anti-bribery laws and one count of conspiring to commit money laundering.

He faces as many as 30 years in prison.

It was reported that the trial featured startling confessions from Ng's former boss Tim Leissner who pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018.

Leissner had then became the state's star witness in the trial, providing 10 days of testimony.

Jurors heard from Leissner that he paid Ng more than US$35 million, which prosecutors said was laundered through a series of offshore entities.

Ng, 49, who was the firm’s former head of investment in Malaysia in his defence, argued that the US$35 million alleged kickbacks were for an unrelated legitimate transaction in China.

Golman Sachs had paid more than US$5 billion in global fines, including US$2.9 billion, the largest US penalty of its kind in US history for its role in the scheme.

Malaysian financier and suspected mastermind of the scheme Low Taek Jho or better known as Jho Low was charged together with Ng in 2018, but currently remains at large.