With reports that the US Department of Justice (DOJ)- which is looking into the role of Goldman Sachs Group’s in raising almost US$6 billion (S$8.3 billion) for Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund – is asking questions about money flowing through accounts linked to Tim Leissner, a surprise might be in store.
That is to say, the DOJ is seriously looking into the money trail that moved in between accounts held by Tim Leissner, the husband of Kimora Lee Leissner, also known as Kimora Lee Simmons.
The money trail, said a source, may lead to an incognito banking institution in the most unsuspecting offshore financial services centre in Africa.
Kimora Lee Leissner is an American fashion model and fashion designer, and her name was mired in the 1MDB scandal.
Her husband, the American investment bank Leissner played dealmaker for three 1MDB bond offerings between 2012-13, raking in $6.5b for 1MDB and $593m for the bank in fees.
‘Leissner and his glamorous wife were guests in San Francisco back in September 2013 when Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansour travelled to San Francisco to open a new office of Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund,” said ibtimes.co.uk.
Now how could a Mauritius bank be involved in the money trail?
Rumours have it that a group linked to Leissner made an attempt to dangle a large sum of money – purportedly in billions of US dollars – into a local bank account in Port Louis city.
The question is whether the DOJ officials and those from the Federal Bureau of Investigation – who have been interviewing bankers familiar with 1Malaysia Development Berhad about Leissner’s network of relationships with politically connected Malaysians – are also looking into other jurisdictions.
In interviews as recent as last month, US officials asked whether money was sent from a Leissner-linked account to an entity controlled by someone tied to the Malaysian government, Bloomberg reported.
More info to come soon.