A class action by shareholders brings new accusations and evidence from senior witnesses within Goldman Sachs who willing to testify that top officeholders knew about the corruption problems at 1MDB.
But the top officials pushed the deal because of the money it made for the once most powerful bank in the world!
The filing reveals information on further meetings between Jho Low and the now-retired CEO of the bank Lloyd Blankfein. These meetings were unknown to the public until the filing of a case in the US. The former CEO defied warnings on the suspicious nature of 1MDB and the ‘Red Flag’ status of Jho Low himself.
Jho Low as we know it now acted as the main 1MDB negotiator in the deals. 1MDB was chaired by ex-Malaysian PM, Najib Razak. He is facing serious charges of money laundering, corruption and abuse of power in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Jho Low is still on the run, hiding in some unknown country while he may have been stripped of yet another nationality he was holding until media reports in Cyprus revealed he had a European Union passport.
It is revealed that Blankfein met Jho Low at least “for a third time” to “discuss how the bank could do more business with 1MDB.”
This was after a “highly suspicious” third bond deal, which the bankers openly suspected was raised as a slush fund for Malaysia’s General Elections in 2013.
The shareholders claim they have evidence that just before the 3rd bond was raised days before GE13 “Goldman bankers openly discussed the likelihood that Najib was diverting 1MDB funds for political gain.” But the raised the fund anyway.
Sarawak Report, the main whistleblower in the 1MDB scandal, says if the shareholders win their case, the future of Goldman Sachs and its banking licence could well be in doubt.
Sarawak Report says Goldman Sachs once basked in the title of Masters of the Universe, bragged how they could solve all the world’s problems and tossed themselves multi-million dollar bonuses like confetti.
“However, the bankers of Goldman Sachs are now facing a crumbling house of cards as 1MDB unravels, with more damaging revelations heaped this week by a damning 200 page court indictment unleashed by its own shareholders,” it says.
The class action is being led by the Philladelphia law firm Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP.
The shareholders are suing for negligence and corruption by the bank which put profit before compliance.
This caused the value of their investments to plunge after the truth over 1MDB finally emerged, says the court filing entered on Oct 28.
It also accuses the top bank of lying right until 2018, despite the 1MDB scandal raising suspicions as early as 2014.