(Bloomberg) -- Tim Leissner, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker who admitted his role in one of the largest financial frauds in history, is seeking a presidential pardon before he surrenders to a federal prison.
Leissner filed his pardon application to the US Justice Department last year, according to a notice on the DOJ website. It was submitted between Sept. 3 and Nov. 18, according to archived copies posted on lawyeroyer.com.
Leissner, Goldman’s former Southeast Asia chairman, pleaded guilty in 2018 to engaging in a scheme to embezzle $4.5 billion from Malaysian fund 1MDB. Leissner cooperated with prosecutors and became the US government’s star witness against a former Goldman colleague at a 2022 trial in Brooklyn, New York.
The White House is sifting through thousands of clemency requests, including a pardon bid by Archegos Capital Management founder Bill Hwang, who was convicted over the collapse of his $36 billion family office, and Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is serving an 11-year sentence for defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup.
Last week, President Donald Trump granted clemency to more than 20 people, including several convicted of white-collar crimes. Trump says he’s using his unchecked clemency powers to correct abuses in the criminal-justice system against those prosecuted for political reasons. But critics say he’s abusing the process and undermining the work of prosecutors.
At his May sentencing, Leissner and prosecutors argued he should be spared prison because his cooperation resulted in the conviction of a former colleague and billions of dollars in global fines against Goldman. But a federal judge ordered him jailed for two years, calling his conduct “brazen and audacious.”
He is scheduled to surrender to a facility in Southern California early next month. A federal judge originally ordered Leissner to begin serving his term on Nov. 17, but allowed him to remain free until Jan. 12. Earlier this month his lawyer, Henry Mazurek, said prison officials needed time to find a facility close to family in California and asked that he surrender Feb. 6.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn declined to comment. Mazurek didn’t immediately return a message.
The 1MDB fraud toppled the Malaysian government and led to investigations in six countries. At the trial of Roger Ng, his former Goldman colleague, Leissner testified that he worked with Ng and Malaysian financier Jho Low, who was the alleged architect of the 1MDB fraud.
At his sentencing, Leissner begged to be spared prison.
“I know how terrible my crime was,” he said. “In the process of telling the government and the world about 1MDB, I have had to publicly face the fact that I helped steal billions of dollars not just from individuals, but from an entire nation.”
--With assistance from Todd Gillespie, Max Abelson and Aaron Gordon.
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