Tim Leissner
Tim Leissner | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 31, 1971 Germany |
| Occupation | Former investment banker |
| Years active | 1990s–2016 |
| Known for | 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal involvement |
Tim Leissner (born October 31, 1971) is a German-born former investment banker who has been convicted of criminal offenses. During his tenure as managing director at Goldman Sachs and head of the bank's Southeast Asia operations, Leissner was deeply involved in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, one of the most significant financial fraud cases involving billions in misappropriated funds. He was apprehended in Washington, D.C. in June 2018 and subsequently fined $43 million. Although he faced a potential prison sentence of up to 25 years as of 2020, his cooperation with authorities delayed incarceration until he was sentenced to two years in federal prison on May 29, 2025.
Early life and education
Born in Germany to a high-ranking Volkswagen executive, Leissner pursued higher education at the University of Siegen. He later obtained an MBA from the University of Hartford in Connecticut in 1992.
Career
Leissner’s career included positions at JPMorgan and Lehman Brothers before joining Goldman Sachs in 1998. He ascended to partner status by 2006 and was appointed chairman of the Southeast Asia division in 2014. His departure from Goldman Sachs in January 2016 followed an internal investigation revealing that he had forged a letter to Banque Havilland on behalf of Jho Low.
1MDB
In 2018, Leissner admitted guilt for embezzling $200 million from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund involved in the 1MDB scandal and for breaching the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by bribing officials to secure business for Goldman Sachs. The Securities and Exchange Commission imposed a lifetime ban on him alongside a $43 million penalty. Goldman Sachs incurred over $5 billion in fines paid to Malaysian and U.S. regulators connected to this case.
Bloomberg referred to Leissner in 2022 as "Goldman's most infamous banker." That same year, he testified against former deputy Roger Ng during a trial. Until his sentencing to two years’ imprisonment in May 2025, Leissner remained out on bail set at $20 million.
Personal life
Leissner has been married three times, including maintaining two marriages concurrently. Around the year 2000, he wed his second spouse, Judy Chan, in Hong Kong.
In 2014, while still legally married to Chan, Leissner married Kimora Lee Simmons. To conceal this, he provided Simmons with fraudulent divorce papers and created an email account impersonating Chan, sustaining the ruse for several years. The couple have a son born in 2015. Simmons also adopted a ten-year-old boy in 2020. By February 2022, the couple had become estranged, although the exact timing of their separation remains unclear.
Leissner is also father to a daughter.