A Goldman Sachs Group banker who helped broker a US$3 billion bond deal for 1MDB has gone on “personal leave” and returned to the United States, The Wall Street Journal has reported, citing sources.
Tim Leissner, reported as one of the bank’s longest-serving employees in Asia and a partner at the bank since 2006, is husband to celebrity Kimora Lee Simmons.
Leissner and Simmons attended the opening of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd’s office in San Francisco in September 2013, and were photographed with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak at the event.
Leissner, who has been relocated to the US, was involved in 1MDB deals, including a US$3 billion bond in early 2013, which earned the bank nearly US$300 million in fees, the US financial daily reported.
This comes with Najib being cleared of wrongdoing over RM2.6 billion found in his bank accounts, and RM42 million alleged to be channelled to him from former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's decision on the Najib cases, coupled by the prolonged spotlight on 1MDB, has hogged headlines internationally.
The Financial Times in its report today said the turn of events has “done nothing to dispel a growing sense that Najib Razak has been a disastrous prime minister for Malaysia”.
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