A US Federal Court judge ruled that former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner could be questioned about certain emails he sent to his estranged wife Kimora Lee Simmons to determine whether he is a “cunning liar”, Bloomberg reported today.

However, the judge did not allow the defence in the trial of 1MDB co-conspirator Roger Ng to show the emails to the jury.

Ng’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo last week said it was Leissner and not his client who forged critical links with key people in the scheme to defraud the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Leissner, now the prosecution’s star witness, pleaded guilty in 2018 to helping Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho loot billions of dollars from 1MDB, leaving Ng the only Goldman banker to go on trial over the scandal.

Ng is accused of conspiring with Leissner and Low to violate US anti-money-laundering laws.

In his argument to introduce the emails as evidence, Agnifilo said the missives backed up the picture he was trying to create of Leissner.

“Our theory is that this is a cunning liar, a rare cunning liar,” the defence lawyer told the court,

“I’m seeking to show this jury he’s just a liar and the only way that the jury understands what he’s done with our client and the lengths he’s gone to do other things of an unusual and cunning nature.”

Agnifilo said Leissner created a fake email address purporting to be from his second wife Judy Chan, which he used to communicate with Simmons – whom he was dating – and even posed as Chan when he sent the messages.

Leissner also used Chan’s name in 2016 to buy art Low had purchased after robbing 1MDB, the lawyer said. – March 8, 2022.