Leissner Was a Classic Goldman Power Player Before His Fall
(Bloomberg) -- One of the most famous rules for bankers inside Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was written decades ago by the late boss John Whitehead: "Important people like to deal with other important people. Are you one?"
Tim Leissner was.
Leissner's guilty plea to conspiring to launder money and violate foreign bribery laws in the 1MDB corruption case was unsealed Thursday. He wasn't just the firm's Southeast Asia chair. He embodied the Wall Street alchemy that transforms proximity to power into money.
He was ordered to forfeit $44 million when the Justice Department unveiled charges against him and former deputy Roger Ng over their alleged roles in the siphoning off of billions of dollars from Malaysia's development fund. Goldman had no immediate comment.
Read more: The rise and fall of Tim Leissner, Goldman's big man in Malaysia
Leissner was the kind of banker who seemed to know everybody. He sat onstage when billionaire Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary's conglomerate announced a takeover that it called the largest acquisition ever done in Malaysia. Goldman Sachs advised on it, and Leissner was named a partner soon after. A photo years later shows his celebrity wife Kimora Lee Simmons smiling next to the wife of Najib Razak, then prime minister.
Furor broke out when Goldman pulled in $593 million from working on three 1MDB bond sales that raised $6.5 billion. But that anger was overshadowed by the controversy over at least $681 million that landed in the prime minister's personal bank accounts.
The fallout inside the bank is spreading beyond Leissner, who left in 2016, and his deputy. Goldman has placed its former co-head of Asia investment banking, Andrea Vella, on leave.
--With assistance from Patricia Hurtado and Greg Farrell.
To contact the reporter on this story: Max Abelson in New York at mabelson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net;Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Indians Stay With Family, Not In Hotels | The Reason Why
India still lacks enough clean, reliable and affordable hotels for budget-conscious travellers.
-
The Economic Imperative: Analysing The Material Driving Force Behind India-Canada Strategic Reset
This economic complementarity is further reinforced by deep institutional investment ties and talent mobility, which form the bedrock of the bilateral framework.
-
Medicine Pricing: Where Must Profit Stop?
India must confront excessive margins, hidden incentives and regulatory gaps that threaten the integrity of medicine.
-
Why Amazon And Flipkart Are Struggling To Beat Meesho In India's Smaller Cities
With 274 million users and lowest-cost logistics, Meesho is defending its value commerce crown against giants like Amazon and Flipkart.
-
High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
-
Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
-
Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
