‘Billion Dollar Whale' co-author slams Tim Leissner's light jail sentence
PETALING JAYA : US-based journalist Tom Wright, who co-authored the 'Billion Dollar Whale', has criticised the two-year sentence handed down to a former Goldman Sachs banker for his role in the 1MDB scandal.
On X, Wright said the sentence 'is no justice'.
Earlier today, Tim Leissner, a former employee of the investment bank was sentenced to jail by a New York court.
Leissner, a former Southeast Asia chairman for Goldman Sachs, pleaded guilty in 2018 to a conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and participating in a money laundering conspiracy, all tied to his role in the 1MDB scandal.
Wright said Leissner should have been sentenced for a longer period and suggested that his two-year sentence was in view of the cooperation he had given to get Roger Ng, another former Goldman Sachs banker 'sent to jail'.
'But that is punching down.'
Separately, in his weekly newsletter, 'Whale Hunting', Wright wondered if justice had been served as regards Goldman Sachs's role in helping steal billions of dollars.
'Not by a long shot.'
Goldman had helped sell US$6.5 billion of bonds for 1MDB, an investment arm set up by former prime minister Najib Razak, with the help of fugitive financier, Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, the central figure in Wright's book.
Leissner later became a US government witness in the case after his arrest in 2018 and testified against Ng.
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