Roger Ng seeks delay to start of 10-year sentence

NEW YORK (Bloomberg): Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Roger Ng (pic) asked a US judge to delay the start of a 10-year prison sentence for his role in the global 1MDB fraud, saying he needs three months to allow for his wife and young daughter to arrive in New York from Malaysia.

US District Judge Margo Brodie sentenced Ng on March 9 and ordered him to surrender to federal prison officials on May 4. His defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo on Friday asked the court to allow Ng to delay going to prison until August.

Agnifilo said Ng hasn’t seen his daughter, who is now 10, for more than four years - since he was arrested in Malaysia in 2018. Ng, who agreed to be extradited to the US to face trial in New York in early 2019, also faces prosecution in Malaysia once he’s released, Agnifilo has said.

"Due to the amount of time Mr. Ng has spent away from his minor child, and the length of his sentence, we respectfully request that Mr. Ng be able to spend two months with his family before he surrenders,” Agnifilo said.

The lawyer argued his client has been free on house arrest and electronic monitoring since a federal magistrate in Brooklyn agreed to release him on $20 million bail in May 2019, and has never violated conditions of his release. Agnifilo said prosecutors objected to the delay.

John Marzulli, a spokesman for Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace, declined to comment on Ng’s request.

The case is US v Roger Ng, 18-CR-538, US District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).- Bloomberg