Judge reveals ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ extra among alternate jurors

NEW YORK: The judge in the case of an ex-Goldman Sachs banker involved in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal revealed that an alternate juror in the case had worked as an extra on the Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street, which was partly funded by cash looted in the scam.

Bloomberg reported that during a break and outside the jury’s presence on Monday, US District Judge Margo Brodie read out loud the alternate juror’s note to her for the prosecutors and defence lawyers of the accused Roger Ng.

“Dear Judge Brodie, I feel the need to disclose that I worked as a background actor/extra for The Wolf of Wall Street in late 2012 into 2013,” she read.

The alternate, whom Brodie didn’t identify, said the person was hired and paid by an outside casting service and received US$1,000 for the gig and did not have any interaction with any of the producers or anyone on the financial side of the film.

“I do not believe this poses a problem,” Brodie said of the disclosure.

At least US$60mil diverted from the wealth fund was used to help produce the 2013 movie, according to the United States.

As recently as last week, the government showed jurors the front and back covers of the Wolf DVD as well as screencaps in which Malaysian financier Jho Low – who prosecutors say was the mastermind of the 1MDB scheme – is thanked for helping make the film.Meanwhile, Ng’s wife testified in her husband’s defence at a US trial over the looting of hundreds of millions of dollars from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund between 2009 and 2014.

Lim Hwee Bin, testified on Monday that shortly after Ng began working for his former boss Tim Leissner in the mid-2000s, she invested 48 million yuan – about US$6mil at the time – at a Chinese company owned by the family of Leissner’s then-wife, Judy Chan.

Lim testified that she and Chan had a falling out in 2011, and Chan told her to divest her share, which had appreciated substantially. In 2012, Chan told her she was ready to transfer US$26mil, said Lim.

When asked by Ng’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo if the money Chan said she would send to Lim came from 1MDB, Lim replied, “Not at all”.

“It had to come from Judy (Chan) and her family,” Lim said.

A lawyer for Chan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ng, Goldman’s former chief for Malaysia, is charged with conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-corruption law.

Prosecutors say he helped Leissner embezzle money from 1MDB, launder the proceeds and bribe officials to win business for Goldman.

Ng, 49, has pleaded not guilty. He argues that some US$35mil he received from Leissner, which prosecutors characterised as kickbacks from the scheme, was actually the proceeds of a legitimate business venture between the two men’s wives.

Leissner, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to similar charges, testified in February that the investment Lim made in Chan’s Chinese business was a “cover story” that he and Ng concocted to explain the kickback payment so that the banks processing the funds would not grow suspicious.

The charges stem from one of the biggest financial scandals in history, in which US prosecutors say US$4.5bil of the US$6.5bil Goldman raised for 1MDB was diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.

Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly US$3bil fine and arranged for its Malaysian unit to plead guilty in US court.