The ongoing embezzlement trial of ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng took another strange turn this week after the prosecution’s star witness, Tim Leissner, detailed his extramarital affairs – including one where a mistress purportedly blackmailed him into buying her a $10 million mansion. Leissner, a former Goldman executive, is testifying against Ng, who faces federal charges over his alleged role in Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption scandal. While on the stand, Leissner admitted to prosecutors that he has had several affairs. One of his entanglements was a decade-long relationship with Rohana Rozhan, a media executive and former CEO of Astro Malaysia Holdings. Leissner said he used money siphoned from the 1MDB fund to buy Rozhan a $10 million house after she threatened to reveal his involvement in illegal activity following their breakup. “Ms. Rozhan was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, with Kimora,” Leissner said on the stand, referencing his estranged wife, fashion model and reality TV star Kimora Lee Simmons. “If I didn’t buy her a house, she would tell the authorities about my involvement in the 1MDB scandal. She was threatening to expose me. At the time, 2013, I was very fearful of that,” Leissner added, according to Bloomberg. Leissner testified that he informed Richard Gnodde, the then-chief of Goldman Sachs’ Asia business, of his relationship with Rozhan. He admitted to continuing the relationship despite Gnodde’s warnings to “be careful” because Rozhan’s company was a client. Leissner said the relationship was an open secret among Goldman Sachs employees in the region. “Pretty much everybody in our Southeast Asia territory knew it,” Leissner added. Gnodde, Rozhan and Astro Malaysia Holdings did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment on Leissner’s testimony. Rozhan left Astro in 2019. Goldman Sachs declined comment on Leissner’s remarks. Leissner’s personal life has been under intense scrutiny during Ng’s trial. Earlier this month, Ng’s defense attorney Marc Agnifilo referred to Leissner as a “double bigamist” who has been “married to two different women at the same time, twice.” The defense attorney argued Leissner “uses women, he uses false intimacy, and now he’s trying to use my client to get him to do his jail time.” Leissner, a former partner for Goldman Sachs’ Asia division, previously pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He agreed to forfeit $43.7 million and will be sentenced later this year. Meanwhile, Ng, Goldman’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia, faces federal charges of conspiracy to launder money and violate US anti-bribery laws. He is accused of participating in a scheme to loot billions of dollars from Malaysia’s sovereign development fund. Ng has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
