US court orders ex-goldman to hand over $35.1 million

A US jury found Ng guilty of all counts in $4.5 billion scheme to loot Malaysian fund 1 MDB. A US judge ordered former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng to forfeit $35.1 million, after he was sent to 10 years in prison on Friday for helping loot billions of dollars from Malaysia's 1 MDB sovereign wealth fund.

US District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn rejected Ng's argument that he had no more money after he allegedly forfeited tens of millions of dollars of alleged proceeds from his crimes.

Ng's lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said his client, a Malaysian national and Goldman's former head of investment banking in Malaysia, had been drained of most of his assets.

Brodie said the $35.1 million forfeiture was not constitutionally excessive.

She said that even though Ng was less culpable than others, he played a role in one of the largest financial crimes of all time, a scheme that caused intangible harm to the public's confidence in democracy and government. Agnifilo didn't respond immediately to requests for comment.

Brodie imposed a prison sentence on March 9, 11 months after jurors found him guilty of helping his former boss Tim Leissner embezzle money from 1 MDB, launder the proceeds, and bribe government officials to win business.

Jho Low, a Malaysian financier and suspected mastermind of the scheme, was also indicted, but remains at large.

Leissner faces a Sept. 6 sentencing. In October 2020, Goldman settled with authorities, agreeing to pay $2.9 billion and have its Malaysian unit plead guilty to a corruption charge.

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak is serving a 12 year prison sentence after being convicted in a Malaysian court of receiving $10 million from a former 1 MDB unit. Najib has denied wrongdoing for a long time.