KUALA LUMPUR – A judge in the trial of Goldman Sachs ex-banker Roger Ng has ruled that the firm’s disgraced former senior banker Tim Leissner can be questioned about certain emails he sent to his estranged partner Kimora Lee Simmons.
International news outlet Bloomberg reported that Ng’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo has been using his cross-examination to destroy the US government’s star witness Leissner’s credibility.
Apparently, the defence wanted to show the emails to the jurors but US district judge Margo Brodie had originally ruled that the jury could not see them, leaving the Brooklyn Federal Court on March 7 to order a compromise.
Agnifilo had wanted to determine whether or not Leissner is a “cunning liar” and said that the jury must witness the “lengths (Leissner) has gone to do things of an unusual and cunning nature”.
The defence counsel further told the court that the government’s star witness had communicated with Simmons – whom he was dating at the time – with a fake email address created under the name of his second wife Judy Chan.
Besides posing as Chan when he sent the emails, Leissner had also used her name in 2016 to purchase art that fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho obtained from looting 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), although Agnifilo noted that the US had launched an investigation by then.
The article stated that the ruling is a compromise as the defence had originally wanted to present the emails directly to the jury.
In response, prosecutors had argued that the emails might confuse the jury as many were irrelevant since they were sent after the alleged 1MDB conspiracy had ended in 2014.
While judge Brodie had ruled yesterday that the jury could not see the emails, she did advise Agnifilo to question Leissner about his alleged lies related to the emails in order to depict his unreliability as a witness.
She added that she would also review several other emails which Leissner had sent Simmons to determine whether they could be used in the trial.
“Our theory is that he (Leissner) is a cunning liar, a rare cunning liar.
“I am seeking to show this jury that he is just a liar and the only way that the jury understands what he’s done with our client,” Agnifilo reportedly said in court yesterday after jurors were dismissed.
Apparently, earlier in the day, Agnifilo had tried to depict Ng as being excluded from several meetings and deal discussions between Low and Leissner, including a proposed acquisition of Brazilian mining giant Vale SA.
Some of the discussions occurred around the first and second bond transactions Goldman handled for 1MDB in 2012.
Besides acknowledging that Ng did not attend most of the meetings with Low and admitting that he did not recall in other instances, Leissner confessed that many of the proposed deals never came to fruition.
Previously in his grilling of Leissner, Agnifilo appeared to have raised multiple doubts over the US government’s star witness’ testimony involving his allegations and recounting of incidents related to the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
Sticking to his line of questioning in the face of protest by prosecutors, Agnifilo responded that asking Leissner about his love life was fair game, as it was meant to bring into question Leissner’s credibility.
On March 4, it was reported that the defence was pushing to introduce as evidence an email between Former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan and Leissner.
Agnifilo said the application for new evidence follows Leissner’s testimony alleging Ng of having “critical relationships” that helped the deals linked to the 1MDB financial scandal.
The lawyer alleged that it was Leissner who had built these “critical relationships” and not his client Ng.
Although the judge had said she would consider whether to allow the evidence later in the day, the status of the application is unclear. – The Vibes, March 8, 2022
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