KUALA LUMPUR – A US$50 million (RM210 million) boat, part of the Inter Milan team, a Manhattan apartment, down payment for a Los Angeles house with then wife Kimora Lee Simmons and investments in a media company All Def Digital Inc, and an energy drinks maker Celsius Holdings Inc.
This is how former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner spent the millions he stole from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), reported Bloomberg.
In day four of his testimony in a Brooklyn court, the prosecution’s star witness laid bare his cheating, lying and scheming ways – a tactic typically used to get ahead of the coming cross-examination by the defence.
He said the US$60 million in kickbacks he got was not enough.
Fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, he alleged, got him to “hold” US$162 million in a Mauritian shell company.
He told the court that he kept US$80 million and even borrowed US$1.25 million from his then colleague Roger Ng – who is now on trial.
Aside from his lavish lifestyle, Leissner revealed that he was married to two women simultaneously – one being Simmons and the other being Hong Kong businesswoman Judy Chan.
He said to marry Simmons, he provided a fake divorce decree in 2014, and a similar modus operandi when he wanted to marry Chan in 2000.
While he admitted that Simmons knew about the forged documents, Chan did not.
Leissner even faked an email that said Low needed money in a bid to get US$900,000 to be used as down payment on a Los Angeles house for Simmons.
“It didn’t work. I think she (Chan) did some research on the internet and found out I was trying to buy this house.”
Leissner is expected to resume his testimony on Monday.
The fallout from Leissner’s testimony continues in Malaysia as his former lover, Datuk Rohana Rozhan, who is former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd CEO, had given her statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
In a brief statement from her lawyers at Valen, Oh and Partners, Rohana said today: “I refer to the allegations appearing in the media about me.
“I’ve attended at the office of the MACC and have given them my full cooperation in their investigations.”
On February 23, Leissner had revealed to the United States court of his alleged affair with Rohana and how she allegedly blackmailed him for a US$10 million home in London.
Bloomberg reported that the pair had a relationship between 2003 to 2013, when Leissner called it off so he could be with Simmons.
Rohana left Astro in 2019. – The Vibes, February 25, 2022
