KUALA LUMPUR – Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner has begun serving a two-year prison sentence in the United States for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, nearly a decade after admitting to participating in the multibillion-dollar fraud.
Leissner reported on Friday to a federal correctional facility in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, after a US court rejected further attempts to delay his incarceration, according to his lawyer Henry Mazurek.
The German-born financier, now 56, was among the central figures in the scheme that saw billions of dollars siphoned from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, a scandal that ultimately led to the fall of the Barisan Nasional government in 2018 and forced Goldman Sachs Group Inc to pay more than US$5 billion to settle claims related to the bond transactions.
Leissner pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring to launder money and violate anti-bribery laws, becoming one of the earliest insiders to admit wrongdoing. He later cooperated extensively with US authorities and testified as the prosecution’s star witness at the 2022 trial of former Goldman colleague Roger Ng.
At that trial, Leissner said at least US$4.5 billion of the US$6.5 billion Goldman raised through three bond offerings for 1MDB was misappropriated. He testified that about US$2 billion was paid in bribes to foreign officials, while another US$1 billion went to kickbacks for participants in the scheme.
Leissner also admitted to personally receiving US$73.4 million from 1MDB and a further US$80 million from Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, who US prosecutors say masterminded the operation. Low, who has denied wrongdoing, was charged in 2018 and remains a fugitive.
US District Judge Margo Brodie last week rejected a fifth request to postpone Leissner’s surrender date, after four earlier adjournments were granted following his sentencing in May.
Ng was convicted by a federal jury and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was transferred to Malaysia in 2023 under an agreement with the US to face domestic charges. The Malaysian government announced in December that it is also seeking Leissner’s extradition.
Court records show Leissner submitted a pardon application to the US Department of Justice last year. Mazurek said his client’s cooperation was instrumental in exposing violations by Goldman and others involved in the scandal. – February 7, 2026