[UPDATED] Leissner gets US$41,000 monthly to manage TPG co-founder’s assets, court hears

KUALA LUMPUR – Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner appeared to be a busy man when he revealed in a US court that he was moonlighting for more than US$41,000 (RM171,749) a month managing the personal wealth of American billionaire David Bonderman, who co-founded investment company TPG Inc. 

This is the same company that Leissner wrangled an internship for the daughter of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Leissner’s side gig took place when he was working for Goldman Sachs as its Southeast Asia head and did not disclose it to his bosses at the investment bank, reported Bloomberg.

He told the court yesterday that he pocketed more than US$41,000 a month from Wildcat Capital Management – the company that oversees Bonderman’s personal wealth.

While he admitted that he did not disclose this “conflict” to Goldman Sachs, it is also unclear what his detailed role was at Wildcat. Leissner by 2016 had left Goldman Sachs.

He has been under fire by the defence team of former Goldman Sachs colleague Roger Ng as the lawyers seek to shred his credibility, highlighting his admission of lies that included government officials, investigators and his family.

Leissner, who pleaded guilty for his involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal, is now the prosecution’s star witness in Ng’s ongoing trial.

After his latest revelations, Wildcat in a statement said Leissner served as a consultant “in the summer of 2015 but was immediately terminated when the circumstances around his departure from Goldman Sachs became known”.

Aside from this side gig, he admitted to receiving more than US$60 million in kickbacks for facilitating the 1MDB bond deals but was greedy for more.

Earlier during his witness statement, Leissner alleged that Najib had wanted to secure jobs for his three children with Goldman Sachs.

“Just met PM’s three children at his apartment, am with Jho at his apartment,” Leissner read to the jury from an email.

He said Ng added: “Meeting him again tomorrow and will work at getting his three children to join Goldman Sachs.”

Leissner then said he did not express any qualms as “the prime minister of Malaysia was potentially great business for us, so I felt having the children of the prime minister work for us would potentially be seen, not just for the prime minister”, but “all others in Asia would take notice”.

After he dropped this bombshell in court, Najib’s daughter Nooryana Najwa admitted that Leissner helped get her a job at private equity firm TPG.

“Yes, I did inquire if Goldman Sachs had such interdisciplinary roles. I was prepared to have an interview with them. And yes, I was told that Goldman Sachs does business with the government of Malaysia, so it could be a conflict of interest.

“I interviewed for an intern analyst position at the TPG London office. Yes, an intern. This means you’re at the bottom of the food chain. Besides your core job scope, you’re also responsible for the spadework. You’re the PowerPoint girl, the photocopying girl, the coffee girl and the delivery girl, just to name a few.”

This week, US news site Politico reported that Najib secured the services of New York public relations firm Karv Communications for US$140,000 a month.

The initial two-month contract is “to help ensure Najib’s actions and views are understood by US journalists and presented accurately in any US media coverage – including during the trial of Ng currently underway in the Eastern District of New York”.

Najib has been a constant figure during Ng’s trial, especially when Leissner testified to the former prime minister’s alleged involvement in the financial scandal.

It was especially damning when Leissner also testified that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho drew up a list of people in Malaysia who needed to be bribed to ensure that the 1MDB bond deal was approved. 

Among them were Najib, who Leissner alleged received kickbacks amounting to US$100 million. 

Currently, Ng is the only Goldman Sachs banker to be put on trial. Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to a count of conspiracy to violate US anti-bribery laws and to conspiring to launder money.

Goldman Sachs in 2020 was ordered to pay about US$2.9 billion total to settle the 1MDB scandal involving its Malaysian subsidiary.

It pleaded not guilty and agreed to a deferred prosecution with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which said the company owed US$2.3 billion in penalties plus US$606 million forfeiture of gains.

Goldman Sachs helped raise US$6.5 billion for the sovereign wealth fund, and the DOJ has said more than US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by high-level officials at the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2015.

The bond issuances are US$1.75 billion (RM7.18 billion) 5.99% Guaranteed Notes due in 2022 issued by 1MDB Energy Ltd; US$1.75 billion 5.75% Guaranteed Notes due in 2022 issued by 1MDB Energy (Langat); and, US$3 billion 4.40% Notes due in 2023 issued by 1MDB Global Investments. – The Vibes, March 11, 2022