As discussed in this prior post, judicial findings of prosecutorial misconduct or other mishaps have been an all too frequent feature in contested individual Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions.
This recent post highlighted the start of the FCPA (and related) trial of Roger Ng (a former managing director at Goldman Sachs) for allegedly paying bribes to various Malaysian and Abu Dhabi officials in connection with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Malaysia’s state-owned and state-controlled investment development company.
As highlighted here, the trial has been paused due to – in the words of the DOJ – an “inexcusable” error by the government. Specifically, the DOJ has acknowledged that it has failed to produce to the defense 15,500 documents of co-defendant Tim Leissner (a former Southeast Asia Chairman at Goldman Sach and Participating Manager Director who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government). As highlighted here, the DOJ further described the error as a “total institutional failure.”
