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Leissner, who took over the role in mid-2014, had helped arrange
the sale of U.S. dollar bonds for Malaysian state investor
1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), currently at the center of
judicial investigations in multiple jurisdictions, sources told
Reuters in February.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that
Leissner, who had been placed on leave since January, quit after
a review of his emails found that he had allegedly sent an
unauthorized reference letter on behalf of an individual to
another financial firm in 2015.
The source confirmed the details in the report.
A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman declined to comment on Leissner.
Leissner himself did not respond to a request for comment. The
source declined to be named due to the legal sensitivities of
the matter.
In a separate report, Bloomberg said Leissner had been
subpoenaed by the U.S. Justice Department in a money laundering
probe linked to 1MDB.
Leissner was issued the subpoena in late February, Bloomberg
reported, citing people briefed on the matter.
(http://bloom.bg/1p3L9Fn).
There was no immediate response from 1MDB when asked about
Leissner.
A spokeswoman for Singapore's central bank said in a statement
Leissner was not based in Singapore when his alleged involvement
in the 1MDB deals took place.
U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether funds were embezzled
from 1MDB by politically connected people in Malaysia, Bloomberg
reported.
The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI could not be reached for
comment outside regular business hours.
The U.S. government is reviewing Goldman's business relationship
with the Malaysian wealth fund as part of a broader,
wide-ranging investigation into 1MDB, an FBI spokeswoman told
Reuters in October.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in BENGALURU and Saeed Azhar in
SINGAPORE; additional reporting by Anshuman Daga; Editing by
Gopakumar Warrier and Miral Fahmy)
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