Ex-Goldman Sachs executive banned from banking field for life

PETALING JAYA (Feb 5): An ex-executive from Goldman Sachs Group Inc has been permanently barred from the banking industry by the US Federal Reserve, for his involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) corruption case.

The regulating body stipulated that Andrea Vella, who held the position of co-head of Goldman's Asia investment banking division ex-Japan, had “failed to escalate information he had about Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho’s (better known as Jho Low) involvement in three bond offerings that Goldman underwrote” for the sovereign wealth fund, Reuters reported today.

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Vella did not raise the alarm although he knew Low was a “person of known concern” to Goldman Sachs.

"Vella was responsible for providing full and accurate information to (Goldman’s) committees reviewing the complex financing transactions and appropriately supervising financing personnel working on the transactions,” the Federal Reserve said in a statement.

The statement added that Vella agreed to abide by the ban, but he had neither admitted nor denied the allegations.

A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman confirmed that Vella, who had been on leave since Oct 2018, had departed from the company recently.

Both Timothy Leissner and Roger Ng, who were indicted by US prosecutors in November 2018 for their roles in the multi-million scandal, were working under Vella.