NEW YORK: Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng (pic) has asked a US judge to delay the start of a 10-year prison sentence for his role in the global 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fraud, saying he needs three months to allow for his wife and young daughter to arrive here from Malaysia.
US district judge Margo Brodie sentenced Ng on March 9 and ordered him to surrender to federal prison officials on May 4.
Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo on Friday asked the court to allow Ng to delay going to prison until August.
Agnifilo said Ng, 51, has not seen his daughter, who is now 10, for more than four years – since he was arrested in Malaysia in 2018.
Ng, who agreed to be extradited to the United States to face trial in New York in early 2019, also faces prosecution in Malaysia once he is released, Agnifilo has said.
“Due to the amount of time Mr Ng has spent away from his minor child, and the length of his sentence, we respectfully request that he be able to spend two months with his family before he surrenders,” Agnifilo said.
The lawyer argued that his client has been free on house arrest and electronic monitoring since a federal magistrate in Brooklyn agreed to release him on US$20mil (RM88mil) bail in May 2019, and has never violated the conditions of his release.
Agnifilo said prosecutors objected to the delay.
John Marzulli, a spokesman for Brooklyn US attorney Breon Peace, declined to comment on Ng’s request.
Ng was found guilty of conspiring to violate US anti-bribery laws and launder money.
His former Goldman boss and 1MDB co-conspirator, Tim Leissner, previously pleaded guilty and was the government’s star witness against Ng.
Leissner is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept 6. — Bloomberg
