Corruption trial opens for ex-Goldman banker in 1MDB scandal

By JIM MUSTIAN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a former Goldman Sachs executive pocketed $35 million in “secret kickbacks” in the multibillion-dollar ransacking of a Malaysian state investment fund. Prosecutors said Monday that Roger Ng played a “crucial” role in the massive money laundering and bribery scheme that bankrolled lavish spending on luxury real estate. The spoils also helped finance the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The banker’s defense attorneys say prosecutors scapegoated the former banker for Goldman’s failures that allowed the looting of $4.5 billion from the 1MDB state investment fund. They told jurors that Ng is “100% innocent.”