Former Goldman Sachs Banker Sentenced to 10 Years Prison for FCPA Scheme
Roger Ng, former managing director of The Goldman Sachs Group, was sentenced on March 9 to 10 years in prison for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as part of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said. Federal prosecutors sought 15 years for the investment banker.
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Ng was the only banker tried and convicted in the scandal in which he was found guilty of conspiring to bribe numerous foreign officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates to obtain business for Goldman Sachs from 1MDB, Malaysia's state-owned investment and development fund. Ng was found guilty in April 2022 (see 2204080058), while Goldman paid over $2.9 billion to the U.S. and more than $5 billion globally, making it the largest FCPA penalty in history, Bloomberg reported.
In a March 7 letter to Judge Margo Brodie, Ng asked the court to consider that the Malaysian government "has been made whole as a result of the fines and penalties already imposed in this case" and that the government's sentencing memorandum ignored the findings of a court-appointed psychiatrist. The psychiatrist found that Ng suffers from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder after being held in a Malaysian prison for six months. The banker asked the judge for time-served while the government sought 15 years given his role in the conspiracy to steal billions of dollars from Malaysia.
“Roger Ng was a central player in a brazen and audacious scheme that not only victimized the people of Malaysia, but also risked undermining the public’s confidence in governments, markets, businesses and other institutions on a global scale,” U.S. Attorney for the N.Y. Eastern District Breon Peace said. “Today’s sentence serves as a just punishment for the defendant’s crimes and a warning that there is a significant price to pay for corporate corruption.”