FORMER Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner admitted to a court in New York yesterday he had used money received from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to buy a US$10 million (RM41.8 million) home in London for his then lover, Rohana Rozhan, Bloomberg reports.

Rohana was then the chief executive officer of Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd.

Leissner, a star witness in an ongoing trial involving former banker Roger Ng, reportedly said Rohana threatened to expose his involvement with 1MDB.

“Ms Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, with Kimora.

“If I didn’t buy her a house, she would tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scandal. She was threatening to expose me. At the time, 2013, I was very fearful of that,” Leissner was quoted as saying.

Ng, 49, is charged with conspiring with Leissner and wanted businessman Low Taek Jho to launder money embezzled from 1MDB, and violate US anti-bribery laws. He is the only former Goldman banker to go on trial in the scandal.

The Bloomberg report stated Leissner was in a relationship with Rohana from 2003 to 2013, and subsequently married US television star Kimora Lee Simmons in 2013.

The 52-year-old also told the jury that he had consulted his then Goldman boss Richard Gnodde about Rohana.

Gnodde reportedly told Leissner to be careful as the bank had business dealings with Astro.

Rohana resigned from Astro in 2019. – February 23, 2022.