THE bribery trial of ex-Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Roger Ng turned tabloid for a while on Tuesday as Ng's former boss Tim Leissner testified that a CEO with whom he had an affair blackmailed him into buying her a US$10 million home.
Asked by prosecutor Drew Rolle about his extramarital affairs, Leissner cited several, including one with a former chief executive officer of a media company. The relationship lasted from 2003 to 2013, he told the jury.
According to a Bloomberg report, Rolle asked Leissner whether he had ever given the woman any money he received from his 1MDB work. Leissner said he had -- and that he bought her a US$10 million home in London in 2013 after she'd threatened to expose his involvement with 1MDB.
"(She) was very upset that I was ending our relationship to be with my future wife, with Kimora," Leissner testified, referring to his wife 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 pleaded guilty in 2018 to a count of conspiracy to violate U.S. anti-bribery laws and to conspiring to launder money. -- BLOOMBERG
