Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng sentenced to 10 years in prison

“Once you’re over that range, it’s tantamount to launching a nuclear weapon in Times Square,” Ifrah said. “By how much will the judge reduce that?”

Ng and his former boss Tim Leissner have been accused of conspiring with Malaysian financier Jho Low, the alleged mastermind of the bribery scheme. Low, now a fugitive, reportedly paid tens of millions of dollars to officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi to complete bond deals arranged by Goldman and raked in $1.42 billion for himself.

Next: Leissner

Leissner pleaded guilty and was the government’s star witness at Ng’s trial. He will be sentenced in September but will likely get less time due to his cooperation. Prosecutors say he made $73.4 million from the program. Ng previously gave up claims of $35.1 million seized from his accounts by the Malaysian government.

Goldman paid more than $2.9 billion to US authorities and more than $5 billion worldwide for its role in the scandal, with its Malaysian unit in the US pleading guilty to a single conspiracy charge. Goldman’s US fine was the highest ever for a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Ng was arrested in Malaysia in November 2018 and extradited in May 2019 to face charges in New York, where he was released on house arrest on $20 million bail. On Thursday, the judge cited his Malaysian detention as one reason for not granting prosecutors’ request for a 15-year sentence.

After the hearing, Ng declined to comment on the verdict. His attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said he would appeal.

“Difficult Five Years”

“We are disappointed. It’s been an incredibly difficult five years and the judge acknowledged it and listened to all of our arguments,” Agnifilo said. “But she came out with what she brought out.”

He pointed out that Ng was still being prosecuted in Malaysia and would have to return to face them after his tenure in the US ended.

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“I would imagine that a 10-year sentence will make an impression on her,” he said.

Breon Peace, the US Attorney in Brooklyn whose office was prosecuting the case, called the verdict “a just punishment.”

Ng was “a key player in a bold and bold plan that not only victimized the people of Malaysia but also risked undermining public confidence in governments, markets, corporations and other institutions on a global scale,” he said in a statement.

PTSD from prison

Ng had said in a letter to Brodie on Wednesday that a court-appointed psychiatrist found he was suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder after his incarceration in Malaysia, which he described as “absolute hell”. He said he contracted malaria in prison and the experience was punishment enough.

Agnfilo also argued on Wednesday that Ng deserved leniency because the Malaysian government had been “made whole”.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak received $756 million under the scheme, and Khadem al-Qubaisi, a former executive of Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co, which guaranteed the 1MDB transactions, received $472.8 million. Dollar, a forensic investigative accountant with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified at Ng’s trial.

“The government already sent its message to the world about Goldman when it accepted their money for a deferred prosecution agreement,” Agnifilo wrote on Wednesday, calling for leniency for Ng. He added that his client’s PTSD “is likely to be exacerbated by detention and any experiences that reactivate his trauma.”