Prosecutors in the United States have unveiled criminal charges against a Malaysian financier and two former Goldman Sachs bankers tied to the billion-dollar 1MDB sovereign wealth fund scandal.
The three-count indictment on Thursday charges Low Taek Jho of misappropriating money from the state-owned fund and using it to bribe foreign officials and to pay for luxury real estate, art and jewelry in the US and to fund Hollywood film, including “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Low, also known as Jho Low, remains at large,
Also charged by the US Department of Justice was a Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violating foreign bribery laws. Another bank official, Ng Chong Hwa, 51,also known as Roger Ng, was arrested earlier on Thursday in Malaysia, prosecutors said.
Goldman has not yet responded to the indictments.
The investment bank, which generated about $600m in fees for its work with 1MDB, has in the past repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said it was cooperating with authorities.
