Side Deals
Leissner also said his and Ng’s dissatisfaction with their Goldman pay pay motivated their wheeling and dealing. He described efforts they made to supplement their income—apart from what he said was their role in the 1MDB scam—with deals that weren’t approved by the bank.
He told the jury that he and Ng tried to help the owner of a copper project in the Philippines sell the business for $50 million. The deal would have generated a 7.5% commission for the two of them, netting them a $3.75 million fee. Ng told Leissner that his take would’ve been greater than his annual bonus at Goldman, Leissner testified.
“Roger was not happy with his compensation,” Leissner said. “He felt he should have been paid more.”
15,500 Documents
On Wednesday, the government disclosed that it had failed to turn over more than 15,500 documents related to Leissner. This prompted the judge to pause the trial after Leissner completes his direct testimony, to give the defense time to go through the documents.
Ng’s attorney Marc Agnifilo told the court he might request a mistrial and even a dismissal of the indictment. The trial resumes Tuesday.
The case is U.S. v. Low Taek Jho, 18-cr-538, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).
—With assistance from Sridhar Natarajan.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.