Ex-Goldman banker Tim Leissner gets 2 years in 1MDB fraud case
Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to helping loot the Malaysian investment fund 1MDB, was sentenced to two years in prison over his role in the massive fraud.
US District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn, New York, sentenced him at a hearing Thursday. Leissner had asked not to go to prison, arguing that his cooperation had resulted in the conviction of a former colleague and billions of dollars in global fines against Goldman.
Leissner, 53, had faced as long as 25 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2018 to one count of conspiring to violate bribery laws and conspiring to launder money. While prosecutors had also pushed for leniency, Brodie cited a letter from Goldman that said that the 1MDB fraud would never have taken place without Leissner.
'Your brazen and audacious conduct meant you were in a position to provide substantial assistance to the government,' Brodie said.
'But in the end, your cooperation does not completely make up for the harm and devastation you knowingly caused through your conduct which was completely selfish. So some punishment is warranted.'
11:20
The legacy of Malaysia's 1MDB scandal on politics and corruption-fighting
The legacy of Malaysia's 1MDB scandal on politics and corruption-fighting
The German citizen was at the centre of what US prosecutors described as one of the largest financial frauds in history in which billions of dollars were siphoned from the Malaysian investment fund, 1MDB.
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