Ex-Goldman banker Leissner has job in Texas after 1MDB trial

BROOKLYN (BLOOMBERG) - Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Tim Leissner, who spent more than a week testifying against his onetime colleague on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) deals, can move to Texas for a new job.

US District Judge Margo Brodie in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday (June 15) approved a change in Leissner's bail terms, allowing him to relocate.

Leissner has been free on US$20 million (S$27.7 million) bail since his arrest in June 2018. He pleaded guilty to foreign bribery and money-laundering charges related to the 1MDB scandal in August 2018.

Ms Brodie is scheduled to sentence Leissner on July 6.

In a letter to Ms Brodie requesting the change in bail terms, Leissner's lawyer Henry Mazurek did not say what job Leissner is taking in Texas.

Mr Mazurek asked that his client's night curfew and electronic monitoring be modified "to better accommodate Mr Leissner's new employment and relocation" to the federal judicial district which includes Dallas, Fort Worth and Amarillo, among other cities.

Mr Mazurek asked that his letter and any subsequent order from the court be sealed, citing "credible concerns regarding Mr Leissner's safety while on pretrial release".

It was not clear whether the letter was posted on the public court docket by mistake, but it was later removed and is now under seal.

Mr Mazurek did not return a voicemail or e-mail message seeking comment.

Leissner was the government's star witness against his former subordinate Roger Ng, the only Goldman banker to go on trial over 1MDB. Ng was found guilty in April of conspiring with Leissner to help financier Jho Low loot billions of dollars from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

During the trial, Leissner testified that while he was a partner at Goldman he also worked on the side for the family office of Mr David Bonderman, the billionaire co-founder of TPG Inc. He said he made more than US$41,000 a month while moonlighting and did not disclose the conflict to Goldman.

Ng's lawyers tried to undermine Leissner's credibility by pointing out that he frequently lied to prosecutors, to Goldman and in his private life.

Leissner acknowledged many instances when he did not tell the truth. He admitted to creating a fake e-mail account under his then-wife Judy Chan's name and posing as her to try to convince Ms Kimora Lee Simmons, his girlfriend at the time, that he was no longer married.

Both women eventually became ex-wives. Leissner also acknowledged he used the phony e-mail account to communicate with Low when the financier wanted to sell Ms Chan a Vincent van Gogh painting.

"I lied a lot, sir, and I regret those times," Leissner told Ng's lawyer, Mr Marc Agnifilo during the trial. "I turned over a new chapter."

As part of his guilty plea, Leissner agreed to forfeit US$43.7 million and testified at the trial that he had also agreed to give up US$200 million in stock in an energy-drink company.

The case is US v. Leissner, 18-cr-439, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).