Goldman Sachs gets massively sucker-punched (though I suspect they were actually bracing themselves for it) as they get criminal charges filed against them.
It wasn't just Goldman Sachs International (UK) that took the hit, Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte and Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC were also charged with omission of material information and the publishing of untrue statement in the offering circulars for the bonds.
Individuals charged were: Jho Low, ex-1MDB general counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Swan and former Goldman executive Timothy Leissner.
It's amazing. Timothy Leissner has already pleaded guilty in the US to charges of misappropriating 1MDB money and bribing officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi and is awaiting sentencing.
Finance Twitter doesn't seem to think that any of the Goldman Sachs bankers would actually go to jail. I think it has a point.
The US has cultivated a reputation for saying one thing and doing another. Barack Obama has, in the past, criticised bankers for their part in the recession - and then gone on to appoint them to his administration!
Trump, at least, is not a hypocrite. His administration is full of ex-bankers who have done nothing for the country but enriched themselves. In other words, a mirror of Trump himself.
Given that Trump has made a business of bankrupting himself to avoid paying his debts, and is not above paying bribes (and not just to strippers that he has had affairs with) to get his way, I cannot believe that his administration would take this seriously.
Still, I don't think Leissner was expecting another load of bricks to be thrown in his direction. I look forward to discovering what his sentence would be.
Roger Ng (Leissner's deputy) is fighting extradition to the US to face the same charges as Leissner, and will be charged later this week. It's not looking pretty for him either. As Finance Twitter says, he is not a US citizen and he is likely to be thrown to the dogs.
These are criminal charges. I expect that a civil suit would follow, where I hope that the $5.1bil rumoured to affect Goldman Sachs would be claimed.
We do have Goldman Sachs to thank, though. Because I personally believe that if this fiasco had never happened, BN/UMNO would still be ruling the country today.
NOTHING could be worse than that.
Related: Wall Street Bankers Need To Understand What Corruption Does To The People Of Our Planet
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