As early as March 2010, Ng “expressly warned” his superiors at Goldman to “be cautious in coping with Low,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said within the lawsuit. “Ng’s warnings were conveyed to the company’s top compliance and legal officers. The company didn’t listen to him.”
Goldman spokeswoman Maeve DuVally, Leissner attorney Henry Mazurek and John Marzulli, a spokesman for acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme in Brooklyn, New York, whose office is prosecuting the case, declined to comment on the request. Low, who has denied wrongdoing, is taken into account a fugitive and has been charged in absentia in Malaysia and the U.S. with money laundering and other crimes.
Goldman has agreed to pay multibillion-dollar penalties to the Justice Department and other U.S. authorities for its role within the 1MDB scandal, the biggest foreign bribery case in U.S. law enforcement history.
Ng admits he first introduced Low to the bank, but says it was “in early 2009 when nobody had any reason to know Low was involved within the fraud.” By 2012, he says, Leissner had turn out to be Low’s foremost contact at Goldman and a “more powerful” and “rainmaking partner.”
“It was Leissner, and Leissner alone, who lied to Low, protected Low and ultimately became a full-fledged criminal in Low’s employ,” he argues.
In the lawsuit, Agnifilo also challenges a “silence” provision that he says the United States put in place as a part of a multibillion-dollar deferred prosecution agreement with Goldman. The requirement signifies that any Goldman official whom Ng warned about Low will now be “afraid” to inform the reality for fear it would invalidate the bank’s cope with the US, he says.
It says this provision, “implemented at the federal government’s sole discretion, ensures that no Goldman worker will contradict the federal government’s narrative regarding Goldman’s misconduct – including Ng’s alleged misconduct of which he’s accused.” Agnifilo argues that this “creates a constitutional issue on this case,” limiting Ng’s ability to make use of witnesses in his defense.
Ng, who’s free on $20 million bail, is scheduled to look in court in March.
