Goldman Sachs spent years insisting that the $4.5 billion looted from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund was the work of a few rogue employees and absolutely nothing to do with anyone senior or institutional. Then, in October 2020, Goldman's Malaysian subsidiary pleaded guilty and the bank admitted it had 'knowingly and willingly' paid bribes to foreign officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi while helping raise $6.5 billion in bond deals for 1MDB between 2012 and 2013 — work for which Goldman collected over $600 million in fees. The settlement with the US Department of Justice, plus regulators in the UK, Hong Kong, and Singapore, totalled approximately $2.9 billion, with Goldman also agreeing to return the $600 million in fees to Malaysia. The bank blamed 'rogue' banker Tim Leissner, who had already pleaded guilty, while simultaneously writing a cheque so large it constituted the largest penalty ever paid by a financial institution in a foreign bribery case. The red flags Goldman claimed it missed included, reportedly, the flags themselves.