The prosecution rested its foreign bribery case against former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng with FBI testimony about records it says show he was in on a plot to loot 1MDB.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday called as their final witness Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Ryan Collins.
Collins walked the jury through scores of emails and other records the government says show Ng conspired with fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, to steal billions of dollars from 1MBD, as Goldman Sachs Group Inc arranged a trio of bond deals for the sovereign wealth fund.
Ng, the only Goldman banker to go to trial in the 1MDB scandal, is accused of plotting with his former boss, Tim Leissner, and Low to pull off the massive fraud.
Leissner was the most prominent of the government’s witnesses, on the stand day after day telling the jury about his role in the scandal and his many fabrications to his wives, bosses and business partners.
Prosecutors allege that Low paid millions of dollars in bribes to Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials while funnelling kickbacks to both bankers. Ng collected US$35.1 million, while Leissner got more than US$60 million, according to the prosecution.
After calling at least 20 witnesses, prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, called Collins, who works on an FBI squad that investigates foreign corruption and kleptocracy.
Collins testified that he reviewed emails sent and received by Ng and others as well as charts compiled by the government that tracked meetings and communications between Low, Ng, Leissner and others.
He told the jurors that Ng sent emails from several addresses when communicating with Low around the time of the 1MDB bond deals. He said that he reviewed Ng’s iCloud accounts and that some of those listed were people who later received bribes Low paid out as part of the fraud.
After the government rested, Ng’s lawyer, Teny Geragos, launched the defence case by calling Katelyn Giesler, who works at her law firm.
Giesler began to describe for the jury how she compiled charts showing that other people, such as Leissner, were present for key meetings with Low that Ng did not attend.
Earlier reports:
Mar 22, Roger Ng took US$35m via wife’s shell company in 1MDB heist
Mar 20, Roger Ng’s wife accused of being co-conspirator
Feb 15, Ex-Goldman banker Roger Ng allegedly got millions in 1MDB-linked kickbacks