BROOKLYN (CN) — A long-awaited trial on a record-shattering global financial scandal will open Monday in New York. The case is expected to test the U.S. government's role in taking on foreign corruption.
Ng Chong Hwa, who goes by Roger, is accused of conspiring to bribe Malaysian government officials and launder billions of embezzled dollars that rightfully belonged to a fund 1MDB, short for 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Initially set up to spur economic development in Malaysia, the corrupted fund was robbed of at least $4.5 billion in a scheme that went up all the way up to the former prime minister, investigators say — and the money was used for lavish purchases like artwork, jewelry and real estate properties.
Ng was Goldman’s head of investment banking in Malaysia. He was extradited to the United States in 2019 and pleaded not guilty to the federal charges against him: two counts of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one to commit money laundering.
Jury selection concluded on Tuesday in the Eastern District of New York. If convicted on all three counts, Ng faces up to 25 years in prison.
Legal minds say the trial will address the United States’ role in monitoring international business practices.
“It's not easy in this global economic world to make people play by the rules,” said Laurie L. Levenson, a Loyola Law School professor and former prosecutor. “A case like this is designed to send a message to other multinational businesses that you are going to be held responsible under this law.”
Double-dealing in 1MDB
Ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak set up the 1MDB fund after taking office in 2009, touting it as a way to promote economic development in the country. In reality, Najib raided the fund, with $700 million ending up in the disgraced leader’s own bank accounts in addition to the luxury goods bought with the money laundered by his associates.
Najib, who served from 2009 to 2018, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on corruption and money laundering charges. He is out on bail and faces four additional trials related to 1MDB.
Meanwhile, domestic investigations into the 1MDB fund have produced multibillion dollar settlements in recent years.
Goldman Sachs paid nearly $3 billion as part of a deferred prosecution agreement related to the 1MDB scandal, while Goldman Sachs Malaysia pleaded guilty to violating anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The former Southeast Asia chairman and participating managing director of Goldman Sachs, Tim Leissner, pleaded guilty to violating the same statute and laundering more than $2.7 billion diverted from 1MDB. Ordered to forfeit $43.7 million, he will be sentenced later this year and is expected to testify against Ng.
Indicted alongside Ng in Brooklyn federal court was Jho Low, an ostentatious Malaysian billionaire and the purported “mastermind” behind the scheme, who remains on the lam.




