Another former senior executive at Goldman Sachs has been permanently banned by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board for his role in the 1MDB embezzlement scandal.
The Fed said that Andrea Vella, a senior executive at Goldman Sachs, has been barred from the banking industry for his role in the firm’s financing of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Goldman arranged bond offerings for the fund in 2012 and 2013.
Two former Goldman employees, Tim Leissner and Roger Ng, and a Malaysian businessman, Low Taek Jho, were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for allegedly participating in a scheme to divert proceeds of the bond offerings, and for bribing government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.
In banning Vella, the Fed said that he “engaged in unsafe and unsound practices by failing to ensure that the involvement of [Low] in the 1MDB offerings, which indicated heightened potential underwriting risks, was fully escalated within the firm.”
Last year, the Fed permanently prohibited Leissner and fined him US$1.42 million for his role in the scheme to divert bond proceeds. Ng is also currently prohibited.