US District Court judge Margo Brodie has granted a request by former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng to delay the start of his prison sentence for his part in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fraud until August.

Last week, lawyers acting for Ng had requested the delay so he could spend time with his wife and child, who are scheduled to fly to the US from Malaysia. Ng’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo added that Ng hasn’t seen his daughter since his extradition in 2018.

Brodie reportedly granted the request without comment.

On March 9, Brodie sentenced Ng to 10 years in prison for role 1MDB scandal.

During sentencing, Brodie said 10 years was “sufficient” to “reflect the seriousness of the crimes” that involved “complex financial deals that raised US$6 billion (RM26.7 billion), paid US$1.6 billion in bribes, US$1 billion in kickbacks – money that was meant to benefit the people of Malaysia.”

Ng and his former boss Tim Leissner, Goldman’s then head of southeast Asia, worked to raise US$6.5 billion for 1MDB via bond sales in 2012 and 2013.

The pair embezzled and laundered money from 1MDB, conspiring with Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, to loot the sovereign wealth fund, the jury found.

Leissner had previously agreed to testify against Ng in exchange for a guilty plea.

Goldman later struck a deal with authorities in multiple nations, including Malaysia, to pay almost US$6 billion in restitution for its role in the scandal.

1MDB evolved from the Terengganu Investment Authority into the sovereign wealth fund in 2009, the year former prime minister Najib Razak took office, but by 2016 had amassed debts of more than RM50 billion.

In 2015 Najib and Low were implicated in the fraud, which eventually led to the downfall of Najib’s administration 2018.

In 2020, Najib was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

Najib continues to deny any wrongdoing over his role in the scandal, despite multiple cases pending, while Low remains at large. – May 2, 2023.