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The
Justice Department said in a statement that the alleged
architect of the 1MDB scheme had hired George Higginbotham, who
was then a senior congressional affairs specialist at the
Justice Department, to help transfer tens of millions of dollars
from foreign bank accounts to the United States.
Higginbotham said he had conspired to make false statements to
banks about the source and purpose of the funds and also
deceived banks with fake loan and consulting documents.
The money he transferred was then used in a lobbying campaign to
resolve civil and criminal matters related to the department's
investigation into the scheme to embezzle billions of dollars
from 1MDB, Malaysia's state fund.
Higginbotham did not play a role in the investigation and failed
to influence any aspect of it, the Justice Department said.
An estimated $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by
high-level officials of the fund and their associates between
2009 and 2014, the Justice Department has alleged.
Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors unveiled criminal charges
against two former Goldman Sachs bankers tied to the massive
theft.
The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit to recover more than
$73 million in accounts at U.S. financial institutions that
Higginbotham allegedly helped open for Malaysian businessman Jho
Taek Low.
The government has alleged Low and other conspired to launder
billions of dollars embezzled from 1MDB, using part of the money
to influence the U.S. investigation of the bank scandal.
Low, who is at large, has maintained his innocence through a
spokesman.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; additional reporting by Jim
Christie; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown)
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