Goldman took $174 million in compensation from executives and agreed to pay nearly $3 billion to officials in four countries to end a yearslong investigation into its dealings with a Malaysian investment fund at the heart of a global bribery ring. All told, Goldman’s dealings with the fund, known as 1MDB, will cost it more than $5 billion in financial penalties and a reputational black eye. The fund launched a decade ago with grand plans to jump-start the Malaysian economy, but instead, prosecutors say, it became a piggy bank for government officials, investment bankers and an international cast of high-rolling hangers-on. In New York federal court Thursday, a Goldman subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate antibribery laws. Brandon Garrett, a Duke University law professor who studies corporate enforcement, said it isn’t clear why Goldman got as much credit for cooperating with investigators as it did.

Source: Wall Street Journal October 22, 2020 15:22 UTC