NEW YORK (Reuters): Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng is unlikely to get a plea deal this week on criminal charges linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB, both sides told Reuters on Thursday (May 23).
Plea negotiations are not yet on the agenda, a lawyer for Ng and a spokesman for the US Department of Justice said. Instead, they plan to only discuss scheduling for case proceedings at a Brooklyn federal court.
Prosecutors and Ng's lawyer, in a May 6 court document related to the case, requested delaying the trial date for Ng because they believed plea negotiations "are likely to result in a disposition of this case without trial".
The US Department of Justice accused 46-year-old Ng last year of conspiring to launder money and bribe government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi through bond offerings that Goldman Sachs handled.
He was extradited on May 3 to New York from Kuala Lumpur, where he had been jailed since November.
Ng pleaded not guilty to the charges on May 6 and was released in exchange for a US$20mil bond.
Government lawyers have said they hope to avoid a trial by reaching a plea deal, though Ng's attorney, Marc Agnifilo said this month it was too early to tell.
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