U.S. Bank Goldman Sachs has officially parted ways with a senior banker who has, along with the firm, been caught up in the controversy swirling around Malaysia’s state investment fund.
In a report from the «Financial Times» (paywall) a Goldman Sachs spokesman said that the former Singapore-based chairman for Southeast Asia, Tim Leissner, had left the Wall Street giant earlier this month.
In January this year as enquiries into the state-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fund were building Leissner, who is married to former model Kimora Lee Simmons, relocated to Los Angeles and took personal leave.
Top Malaysian Advisers
It was thought that Leissner was influential in assisting Goldman Sachs win a series of bond deals for 1MDB, which is now struggling with debt. The bank has also been criticized for the considerable investment banking fees it apparently charged the fund
According to recent reports the American bank has been in involved in almost $19 billion in Malaysian mergers and acquisitions since 2010, making it the top foreign adviser to the country.
