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Tim Raisner, a former Goldman Sachs banker at the heart of the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal, ended one of the most infamous prosecutions in Wall Street history and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Facing up to 25 years in prison, Leissner told Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Margo Brody that he was standing in front of her “embarrassment” after admitting that what he did was “very wrong.”
In a dark suit, the former bunker apologised “to the people of Malaysia, the real victims,” adding, “hoping we can turn back time.” Reissner said he “lost everything” of his career, freedom, family, financial independence. Reissner’s daughter and one of his parents were in court.
“I have lost the will to live,” Leissner said.
Judge Brody said some of Reisner’s colleagues “know what you’re doing and everyone is getting rich, so it just looked the other way around.” She described the 1MDB case as “rude corruption at the highest level of government in multiple countries.”
Prosecutors say Leissner’s ruling marks a milestone in the investigation of the 1MDB case by U.S. law enforcement agencies. Raisner pleaded guilty early in the investigation, agreeing to work with the prosecutor, and testified at the trial of one of his former colleagues, Roger N.G.
Despite his important role in the embezzlement scheme, it has proven important in ensuring Reissner in a more generous sentence.
Goldman has granted a resolution with the US Department of Justice to pay more than $1 billion in bes to obtain underwriting work in a saga that spans Malaysia, the Middle East, Switzerland and the United States, and has paid criminal fines under a resolution with the US Department of Justice. The lawsuit also led to the prosecution of then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. He was convicted and was eventually sentenced to six years in prison.
NG was sentenced to 10 years in 2023 after a New York ju judge committed crimes of bribery and money laundering. Razak, who helped discover 1MDB, is fighting a sentence in Kuala Lumpur. Another central figure, Malaysian financial operator Jho Low, has been charged by US authorities. He is exactly what he is and maintains his innocence.
Raissner is scheduled to begin prison time on September 15th. The judge did not fine. Raissner has been on bail for the past seven years, has limited travel capabilities and was wearing an ankle monitor at that time, his lawyer, Henry Mazrek, said.
He claimed that his client had undergone a “risqué transformation” to “recover the soul he lost.”
Reissner “wants an opportunity to correct the mistakes he made,” added Mazrek, who asked his client to avoid time in prison.
The Department of Justice did not recommend a sentence. Prosecutor Drew Roll described the scandal as “the biggest financial crime in world history,” but said Leissner’s cooperation was important for investigations and accusations of NG and LOW.
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Leissner previously testified how he piloted Goldman’s three 1MDB bond trading arrangements in 2012 and 2013.
He told the court that he spent 170 feet of yachts and real estate in 1MDB stolen, as well as investments in Italian football team Inter Milan on 170 feet of yachts and real estate in New York and London.
Bank general advisor Kathryn Lomler wrote a letter to the judge this month, saying that Raissner “has lied widely to many people” and “hasn’t paid a penny yet.”
Rolle told the court that the bank’s letters were “really extraordinary” and came from an institution that “continuing to resist responsibility for its central role” in the scandal. “It’s like the escape driver that appears in a collaborator’s verdict,” he said.
