Ex-Goldman Sachs banker gets 2 years in prison for plot to fleece billions from Malaysia's 1MDB fund

A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for his role in a $4.5 billion scheme to ransack a Malaysian state investment fund.

NEW YORK — A former Goldman Sachs banker was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison for his role in a $4.5 billion scheme to ransack a Malaysian state investment fund.

Tim Leissner, at his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court, apologized to the people of Malaysia, who he called the “real victims” of the scheme.

“The funds raised more than a decade ago could have profoundly benefited the nation and its citizens,” he said in a statement read in court and provided by his lawyers. “Instead, due to my greed — and the greed of those involved alongside me — they were misappropriated.”

Prosecutors said Leissner and other Goldman Sachs bankers helped the Malaysian investment fund known as 1MDB, or the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund, raise $6.5 billion through bond sales.

But they say more than $4.5 billion of the funds were stolen and laundered through bribes and kickbacks.