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Malaysia 1MDB scandal: jury hears Jho Low ‘partied like there was no tomorrow’, paid US$385,000 bar bill
- Jurors in the trial of ex-banker Roger Ng heard Low spent more than US$3.6 million on a party that included ‘top quality models’, 65 bottles of Cristal Champagne
- The expenses are what the fugitive Malaysian financier did with some of the US$700 million he made off with in the global fraud
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A quarter of a million dollars for Leonardo DiCaprio. A US$385,773 bar tab. Five grand for “model wrangling.”
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These were among the expenses that jurors in the federal conspiracy trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng heard about on Tuesday, as a government witness described how millions of dollars siphoned off in the 1MDB scandal were frittered away on lavish parties hosted by a high-flying Malaysian financier.
Ng is accused of conspiring with former star Goldman banker Tim Leissner to help the now-fugitive financier, Jho Low, steal the funds in exchange for kickbacks.
The jury in Brooklyn, New York, learned of invoices from a Las Vegas party for Low in which food, beverages, “talent” and “top quality models,” among other items, added up to more than US$3.6 million. That big bar tab included 65 bottles of Cristal Champagne for about US$100,000 and a US$38,955 tip.
Ng, the only former Goldman Sachs employee to stand trial in the US for the scandal, is charged with conspiring to violate US anti-money-laundering law to steal billions of dollars from the Malaysian fund 1MDB. The expenses are what Low did with some of the US$700 million he made off with in the global fraud, according to prosecutors.
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