IT was the culture at Goldman Sachs to conceal facts from the bank’s compliance and legal departments, said Tim Leissner in his guilty plea which was unsealed yesterday, Bloomberg reports.

The former Goldman Sachs banker is one of three men who have been charged in a US court with money laundering and bribery in connection with 1Malaysian Development Bhd.  

The report said Leissner was warned by the judge that he faced decades in prison, and providing useful information to the prosecutors could earn him some leniency.

“I conspired with other employees and agents of Goldman Sachs very much in line with the culture of Goldman Sachs to conceal facts from certain compliance and legal employees of Goldman Sachs,” Leissner said in the heavily-redacted transcript.

Leissner acknowledged lying to compliance officials at Goldman about the role in the fund played by Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, the alleged mastermind of the fraud.

“I knew that concealing Jho Low’s involvement as an intermediary was contrary to Goldman Sachs’ stated internal policies and procedures.

“I and several other employees of Goldman Sachs at the time also concealed that we knew that Jho Low was promising and paying bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials to obtain and retain 1MDB business for Goldman Sachs, for the benefit of Goldman Sachs and myself.”

Goldman earned about US$600 million in fees raising money for 1MDB in projects that US prosecutors allege were part of a greater scheme to defraud the Malaysian investment fund. Such allegations have triggered investigations in least two more countries other than the US and Malaysia.

Low, the alleged mastermind, and another former Goldman banker, Roger Ng, are the two others indicted in the US for conspiring to launder billions of dollars siphoned off 1MDB, and for bribing Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials.

Ng was arrested last week in Malaysia at the US authorities’ request and is reported to be fighting extradition to the US. Low, who is also wanted in Malaysia over the defrauding of 1MDB, is still at large. 

Charges against the three were unsealed in the US this month. Leissner had secretly pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act at the August hearing. He is free on US$20 million (RM85 million) bail.

Leissner told the judge he took part in the money laundering, bribery and kickbacks from 2009 to 2014 in an effort to acquire and execute the “strategic” 1MDB transaction to benefit himself and Goldman. He said the goal was to influence Malaysian officials so that Goldman would get 1MDB’s business.

Michael DuVally, a spokesman for Goldman, did not have an immediate comment, said Bloomberg. – November 10, 2018.