{"id":208660,"date":"2022-04-08T12:16:27","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T19:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=208660"},"modified":"2022-04-08T13:55:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T20:55:36","slug":"roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal, Faces 30 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Goldman Sachs banker who once gambled and partied with 1MDB fugitive Jho Low<\/a> has been convicted of money laundering and bribery.<\/p>\n

\"Roger
Roger Ng, pictured, claimed he was scapegoated by his former boss, the prosecution\u2019s star witness, Jim Leissner, whom the defense painted as a \u201cliar\u201d seeking a lighter sentence. (Image: Reuters<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prosecutors said Roger Ng<\/a>, 49, helped his high stakes gambling buddy Low ransack billions from Malaysia\u2019s sovereign fund, 1MDB, in one of the biggest financial scandals in history.<\/p>\n

They said Ng conspired with his boss at Goldman, Tim Leissner, to embezzle and launder money from the fund while paying kickbacks to foreign officials to get more business for the bank.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leissner and Ng convinced Goldman to sign off three bond deals totaling $6.5 billion for the 1MDB fund, which was meant for development and infrastructure projects to benefit Malaysia\u2019s poor.<\/p>\n

But the US government believes around $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and diverted to crooked government officials and bankers.<\/p>\n

Follow the Money<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Around $700 million turned up in personal bank accounts controlled by Malaysia\u2019s then-Prime Minister, Najib Razak. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2018 for corruption.<\/p>\n

Low, the accused mastermind, used the 1MDB fund as his personal bank account, according to prosecutors. He splurged on high-stakes gambling, a $126 million yacht, and luxury properties in Manhattan, Beverley Hills, and London. He also used the money to brownnose celebrities.<\/p>\n

\n

He showered Leonardo DiCaprio with Picassos and Basquiats (now returned) and presented Kim Kardashian with a $325,000 white Ferrari as a wedding present. He invested $100 million into the Oscar-nominated Wolf of Wall Street,<\/em> ironically a movie about reckless greed and excess. This money almost certainly came from the 1MDB fund.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Low was one of the biggest whales at the Venetian Las Vegas. He gambled $87 million on its VIP tables in the spate of a few years, dropping $26 million.<\/p>\n

He maintained a \u201cpersonal relationship\u201d with Ng, prosecutors said. He once flew the banker from Singapore to Las Vegas on his private jet to go gambling.<\/p>\n

Ng received $35 million in kickbacks for his role in the scheme, according to Leissner, who pleaded guilty to similar charges and was the star witness for the prosecution.<\/p>\n

Star Witness Bigamist<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ng\u2019s defense team claimed their client was scapegoated by Leissner, who they said was deflecting blame in the hope of a lesser sentence. They painted him as a \u201chabitual liar\u201d on the witness stand and exposed him as a double bigamist.<\/p>\n

Summing up Monday, prosecutors told the jury there was enough evidence to convict Ng without Leissner\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the jury obliged.<\/p>\n

Today’s verdict is a victory for not only the rule of law, but also for the people of Malaysia,” Breon Peace, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “The defendant and his cronies saw 1MDB not as an entity to do good for the people of Malaysia, but as a piggy bank to enrich themselves.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ng\u2019s lawyer told the Associated Press his client could appeal, depending on post-trial motions and his sentence.<\/p>\n

Ng faces up to 30 years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Goldman Sachs banker who once gambled and partied with 1MDB fugitive Jho Low has been convicted of money laundering and bribery. Prosecutors said Roger Ng, 49, helped his high stakes gambling buddy Low ransack billions from Malaysia\u2019s sovereign fund, 1MDB, in one of the biggest financial scandals in history. They said Ng conspired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":208662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRoger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker, convicted in 1MDB scandal, Prosecutors say he helped Jho Low steal billions from the fund.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker, convicted in 1MDB scandal, Prosecutors say he helped Jho Low steal billions from the fund.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T19:16:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T20:55:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/\",\"name\":\"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-08T19:16:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T20:55:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker, convicted in 1MDB scandal, Prosecutors say he helped Jho Low steal billions from the fund.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Roger Ng, pictured, claimed he was scapegoated by his former boss, the prosecution\u2019s star witness, Jim Leissner, whom the defense painted as a \u201cliar\u201d seeking a lighter sentence. (Image: Reuters)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal, Faces 30 Years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal","description":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker, convicted in 1MDB scandal, Prosecutors say he helped Jho Low steal billions from the fund.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal","og_description":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker, convicted in 1MDB scandal, Prosecutors say he helped Jho Low steal billions from the fund.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-04-08T19:16:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-08T20:55:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/","name":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-08T19:16:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-08T20:55:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker, convicted in 1MDB scandal, Prosecutors say he helped Jho Low steal billions from the fund.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rog2.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Roger Ng, pictured, claimed he was scapegoated by his former boss, the prosecution\u2019s star witness, Jim Leissner, whom the defense painted as a \u201cliar\u201d seeking a lighter sentence. (Image: Reuters)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/roger-ng-goldman-sachs-banker-convicted-in-1mdb-scandal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Roger Ng, Goldman Sachs Banker Convicted in 1MDB Scandal, Faces 30 Years"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}