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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia filed criminal charges on Friday against 17 more current and former directors at three Goldman Sachs subsidiaries for their roles in the alleged multibillion-dollar ransacking of state investment fund 1MDB.
Malaysian and U.S. prosecutors allege that bond sales organized by Goldman Sachs for 1MDB provided one of the means for associates of former Malaysian leader Najib Razak to steal billions over several years from a fund that was ostensibly set up to accelerate Malaysia’s economic development.
The government in December filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two former executives for alleged breaches of securities laws including making false, misleading statements to investors.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas said the 17 people in the most recent filings were charged under the Malaysian Capital Markets and Services Act with allegedly conniving to commit the massive fraud.
They include Richard John Gnodde, the CEO of Goldman Sachs International, and John Michael Evans, a former partner at the bank and now president of Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.
Thomas said in a statement that the government will seek custodial sentences and criminal fines against the 17 accused “given the severity of the scheme to defraud and fraudulent misappropriation of billions in bond proceeds, the lengthy period over which the offenses were planned and executed,” among others.
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