1MDB: Goldman Sachs rips off Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund for $2.7 Billion

[Winehole23]

Trump finance chairman for the 2016 campaign and the inauguration, Elliott Broidy, lobbied the Trump administration to cease investigation into the 1MDB swindle and allegedly was involved in a scheme to receive laundered money from Malaysia.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/u....co/IVckZgkhSn

...and sure enough, it looks like Jho Low may have donated $100,000 to the Trump Victory committee.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/doj-pro...ee-11552482187

[Winehole23]

USAG Bob Barr is involved in the US settlement with Goldman Sachs.

The Bloomberg report, citing anonymous sources familiar with the negotiations, said the settlement has yet to be finalized but could be announced as early as next year.
It also claimed US Attorney General William Barr has “directly immersed himself in the case” after obtaining an ethics waiver from the White House allowing him to participate in and oversee the investigation.
The waiver was required because Barr’s former law firm, Kirkland and Ellis LLP, is currently representing Goldman in the case.

https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/12/ar...-free-of-1mdb/

[Winehole23]

they were crooks, in other words

Goldman Sachs Group agreed to a $79.5 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by Fulton County Employees' Retirement System, Atlanta, in connection with the major bribery scheme involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
The $1 billion pension fund originally filed the shareholder derivative lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New York in February 2019, alleging that the bank's "destructive business culture, which … prioritized the consummation of deals ahead of the proper operation of its compliance functions," according to the original filing.

According to the plaintiff's May 13 memorandum supporting preliminary approval of the settlement, the funds will be used entirely for Goldman Sachs' compliance purposes and the implementation of corporate governance measures "to strengthen the company's internal controls and prevent future wrongdoing at the company," according to the filing.

Goldman Sachs in October 2020 had agreed to pay $2.9 billion to settle U.S. criminal and civil penalties for the bribery scheme with 1MDB. According to an SEC order at the time, beginning in 2012, former senior employees of Goldman Sachs used a third-party intermediary to bribe high-ranking government officials in Malaysia and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Those bribes enabled Goldman Sachs to obtain lucrative business from 1MDB, a Malaysian government-owned investment fund, including underwriting about $6.5 billion in bond offerings that earned Goldman Sachs more than $600 million in fees.

The court still has to approve the settlement.

https://www.pionline.com/courts/gold...t-1mdb-lawsuit

[diego]

what a joke, not only no one goes to jail, thats not even 15% of what they got just from fees, less than 3 percent overall .. doesnt even qualify as a slap on the wrist

the rich have a licence to steal

[Winehole23]

Weird sidebar: Pras Michel of the Fugees convicted of "conspiracy, acting as an agent of a foreign government, witness tampering and falsifying campaign finance records."

Prosecutors said Michel agreed to funnel about $2 million from Low into Obama's 2012 re-election campaign in exchange for receiving millions of dollars. Because federal election law prohibits foreigners from donating to U.S. campaigns, prosecutors said Michel masked the source of the funds.

Michel was also accused of seeking to convince the Trump-era Justice Department to drop civil and criminal investigations into Low over the 1MDB scandal and trying to lobby the U.S. government on behalf of China to send Chinese billionaire and dissident Guo Wengui back to China.

On the witness stand, Michel said the $20 million Low paid him over the course of nine months in 2012 was to help Low secure a photo with Obama. Michel acknowledged that he used some of the money to pay for three of his friends to attend two political fundraisers for Obama's 2012 campaign, but denied doing so at Low's direction.

"Once he gave me the money, it was my discretion how I spent the money because it's my money," Michel told the jury, describing the payment as "free money."

On whether he failed to register as a foreign agent, Michel told jurors that his attorney George Higgenbotham never told him it was required by law. Michel also said he passed along information to the FBI about China's desire to have Guo extradited amid concerns by China that Guo was "allegedly a criminal rapist," saying he "thought it was something the FBI should know."

Higgenbotham, who has since pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme, told jurors that he met with the Chinese ambassador in Washington at Michel's insistence to assure the Chinese that the Trump administration was working toward extraditing Guo.

Guo, who was never extradited, has since been indicted on unrelated fraud charges in New York.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/fugees...er-2023-04-26/