Court allows defence to quiz Leissner on emails to estranged wife

 

Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo says the emails Tim Leissner sent to Kimora Lee Simmons will back up the picture he is trying to paint of the ex-Goldman banker. (AFP pic)

NEW YORK: Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner can be questioned about certain emails he sent his estranged wife Kimora Lee Simmons Leissner to determine whether he is a “cunning liar”, a judge ruled.

The Monday order in the Brooklyn federal court trial of Leissner’s alleged 1MDB co-conspirator Roger Ng is a compromise – the defence originally wanted to show the emails to the jury. US district judge Margo Brodie ruled that the jury could not see them.

Ng’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has been using his cross-examination of Leissner to attack the credibility of the government’s star witness against his client.

Leissner pleaded guilty in 2018 to helping Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, loot billions of dollars from 1MDB, leaving Ng the only Goldman banker to go on trial over the scandal.

Prosecutors had argued that the emails were not relevant because many were sent after the alleged 1MDB conspiracy ended in 2014 and said they might confuse the jury.

Fake emails

Agnifilo said on Monday the emails back up the picture he is trying to create of Leissner.

“Our theory is that this is a cunning liar, a rare cunning liar”, the defence lawyer told the court after jurors were dismissed.

“I’m seeking to show this jury he’s just a liar and the only way that the jury understands what he’s done with our client and the lengths he’s gone to do other things of an unusual and cunning nature.”

Agnifilo said Leissner created a fake email address purporting to be from his second wife Judy Chan, which he used to communicate with Simmons Leissner – who he was dating – and even posed as Chan when he sent the messages.

Leissner also used Chan’s name in 2016 to buy art Low obtained from looting 1MDB, though the US had launched an investigation by then, the lawyer said.

Brodie said Agnifilo could ask Leissner about the lies to show he is an unreliable witness. She said she had also reviewed some other emails which Leissner sent Simmons Leissner to determine if they could be used at the trial.

Earlier on Monday, Agnifilo tried to depict Ng as being excluded from several meetings and deal discussions between Low and Leissner, including a proposed acquisition of Brazilian mining giant Vale SA. Some of the discussions occurred around the first and second bond transactions Goldman handled for 1MDB in 2012.

Leissner acknowledged Ng did not attend most of the meetings with Low and said he did not recall in other instances. Many of the proposed deals never came to fruition, he said. - FMT