Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein met with Malaysian partyboy financier Jho Low — a fugitive at the center of one of the biggest-ever public corruption scandals — even after the bank had raised red flags about him, according to reports.
In 2013, Blankfein, then Goldman’s chief executive, attended the meeting at the Mandarin Oriental in New York with about 20 other bankers and government officials, including Low, to discuss a $6 billion bond deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Low — who helped finance Hollywood movies like “The Wolf of Wall Street” and was known to party with Leonardo DiCaprio — was indicted this month by the Justice Department for stealing billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB), the country’s investment fund.
Low, 36 years old, also allegedly paid bribes to Malaysian and Saudi officials. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman Tim Leissner pleaded guilty earlier this month for his role in the bribery and money-laundering scandal, and paid $43.7 million. He has not been sentenced.
Leissner implicated his former company during a pleading in Brooklyn federal court earlier this month.
“I and several other employees of Goldman Sachs at the time also concealed that we knew that Jho Low was promising and paying bribes and kickbacks to foreign officials to obtain and retain 1MDB business for Goldman Sachs,” he said, according to the WSJ.
The bank’s own compliance department had been concerned about the source of Low’s wealth, and his role in running 1MDB, for about four years, according to the report.
Blankfein first met with Low in 2009 during an introductory meeting to discuss working with 1MDB, according to the report. At that time, the compliance department had only then started to raise questions about how Low made his money.
Michael DuVally, a Goldman spokesman, declined to comment.



