The wheels of justice have nearly ground to a halt — when it comes to Goldman Sachs, that is.
The Justice Department won’t likely wrap up its probe into Goldman Sachs’ role in a widening Malaysian corruption scandal before April — even as the bank told investors on Wednesday it’s expecting $2 billion in penalties related to the mess, The Post has learned.
Insiders are partly blaming the delay on the government shutdown and the lingering vacancy at the top left by ex-US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
With the federal government’s shutdown in its 25th day on Wednesday, the Goldman probe is meanwhile a relatively low priority compared to the Mueller investigation and approving a new attorney general, one source said.
The revelations came as Goldman revealed that it has set aside $844 million this year in reserves to pay for litigation and regulatory matters.
In addition to that, the bank estimated its reasonably possible losses would reach $2 billion — the first time the company has estimated its losses since a former partner, Tim Leissner, was indicted for taking bribes related to the 1MDB scandal.
The $2 billion figure encompasses all the money that Goldman estimates it may have to pay for all investigations, including those unrelated to 1MDB, and the bank didn’t explicitly tie the number to the scandal.
Those numbers are based on similar previous cases, as well as estimates from lawyers, accountants and talks with regulators, one person familiar with the process told The Post.
In Goldman’s discussions with the government, sources emphasized that no number has yet been put on the table. Nevertheless, Goldman’s $2 billion estimate gave some analysts the impression that negotiations may be nearing an end.
“That’s certainly what they want you to think,” Dick Bove, analyst at Rafferty Capital, told The Post.
“They can’t put a number like that out if they didn’t get advice from legal counsel, accountants, discussions with regulators,” he added.
The DOJ has been investigating Goldman Sachs’ involvement with 1MDB for about two years. In addition, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Department of Financial Services are investigating the transactions. Authorities in Malaysia and Singapore are also probing the deals.
The bank raised more than $6 billion in bond offerings for the fund – about half of which went to Low, who bought luxury real estate, a superyacht, parties for celebrity friends, and helped finance the Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
