According to the Complaint, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ("Goldman Sachs" or the "Company") operates as an investment banking, securities, and investment management company worldwide, serving corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high-net-worth individuals.
According to 2016 data compiled by Bloomberg, Goldman Sachs has “worked on $18.8 billion of Malaysian mergers and acquisitions over the past five years, making it the top foreign adviser with a 20.5[%] market share.” Goldman Sachs’s business in Malaysia included, inter alia, raising funds for 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (“1MDB”), a Malaysian state-owned investment fund set up in 2009, four months after Najib Razak (“Razak”) became Prime Minister of Malaysia. 1MDB was initially established to finance infrastructure and economic deals in Malaysia.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business, operations and compliance policies. The Complaint alleges that specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Goldman Sachs participated in a fraud and money-laundering scheme in collusion with 1MDB; (ii) the foregoing conduct, when revealed, would foreseeably subject Goldman Sachs to heightened regulatory investigation and enforcement; and (iii) as a result, Goldman Sachs’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
Plaintiff filed an amended Complaint on March 11, 2019. On September 19, the Court issued an Order appointing Lead Plaintiff and Counsel. Lead Plaintiff filed a second amended Complaint on October 28. Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the second amended Complaint on January 9, 2020. On June 28, 2021, the Court issued an Order granting in part and denying in part Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.
Lead Plaintiff filed a third amended Complaint on August 4, 2023.