- 17 current and former Goldman Sachs employees are facing criminal charges over their alleged role in the 1MDB scandal, according to Bloomberg.
- The scandal is one of the biggest of all time. What started as a Malaysian government plan to fund infrastructure projects turned into an alleged swindle of more than $4.5 billion.
- Alibaba's president Michael Evans is one of those former Goldman Sachs employees involved.
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17 current and former Goldman Sachs directors are facing criminal charges over their alleged involvement in the 1MDB scandal, in particular the sale of $6.5 billion in bonds.
Bloomberg reported that Michael Evans, president and international face of China e-commerce giant, Alibaba, is one of those 17 Goldman directors accused of misleading investors for 1MDB.
The 1MDB scandal is one of the biggest financial scandals of all time, bringing down Malaysia's prime minister, the prime suspect is still on the run, and now Goldman Sachs is in the firing line.
The 1Malaysia Development Bhd started by buying privately owned power plants and planning a new financial district in Kuala Lumpur. The fund gathered $12 billion in debt, instead of foreign investment.
However, the issue was that most of the money raised was allegedly embezzled or laundered. The US Justice Department says that more than $4.5 billion went through fraudulent shell companies to corrupt officials, according to the Washington Post.
Jho Low, who is now a fugitive, was the lead businessman in the scandal. He's accused of diverting money from 1MDB into personal accounts which was disguised to look like legitimate businesses, funneling some of those funds to officials.
Michael Evans, joined Alibaba in 2015, to help Jack Ma get half its revenue from outside of China. Evans helped to push Alibaba into south-east Asia through the acquisition of a stake in Lazada. Alibaba is expanding into Malaysia and considers the country as key partner for its electronic world trading initiative.
Now, Michael Evans, like the other directors, will now face criminal charges over their alleged part in the scandal. Bloomberg reported, citing a statement by Attorney-General Tommy Thomas, said that "Malaysia will seek custodial sentences and criminal fines against the individuals."
"We believe the charges announced today, along with those against three Goldman Sachs entities announced in December last year, are misdirected and will be vigorously defended," a Goldman Sachs spokesman said by email to Bloomberg, while Alibaba did not comment.
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