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by blackstrips 2739 days ago
I take it GS will just walk away. It might not be worth to pay that much to operate in Malaysia.

Not to mention, people could just start a separate company if they absolutely need to do business in Malaysia.

3 comments

Singapore and US are also investigating GS. There will most likely not be a "walk away".

> Singapore’s widened probe opens a potential new battle front for Goldman less than a week after Malaysia filed the first criminal charges against the firm over a relationship that spawned one of the biggest scandals in its history. Singapore is coordinating closely with the U.S. Justice Department, which is also investigating Goldman and has filed criminal charges against two former senior bankers at the firm, the people said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-21/singapore...

They might get nailed in the US but I don’t think Malaysia is going to see any of that 7.5B they are asking for.
They very well may. SDNY isn't going to let customers get screwed when settling with a bank.
I don't think it's quite as simple as that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enforcement_of_foreign_judgmen...

They don't get to walk away from criminal prosecution.
They are prosecuting the company though, not the staff.

If GS refuses to pay, the best they can do is ban them from the country. What else can they do, seriously?

They can seize their CEO's jet while fueling in, say, France, or a GS building in China or whatever. Their life will be miserable, they'd have to navigate hundreds of jurisdictions and they are "bounty hunter" types that take these cases after judgments.

But fraud is fraud, Malaysia can sue them in good, old, USA. Who thinks that GS, the paragon of integrity, behaved correctly, raise their hands. Right, zero hands.

When "too big to fail" goes to the head and gets too boisterous and risky.

Goldman Sachs did have to pay 5.1B for the Great Recession scams [1].

As long as GS can keep the "financial innovation" in Malaysia they will probably pay it after trying to reduce it, if they can't gain from it further in the future they won't.

[1] http://fortune.com/2016/04/11/goldman-sachs-doj-settlement/

Take it up at a political level I expect
Hoping the current administration would side with foreigners against one of its own banks is rather optimistic.
Putin and China has shown that they don't mind getting their hands dirty in foreign countries. Not see why any government could not hire some private operators if they are pissed enough to deliver the to Kuala Lumpur