Former Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn's reluctance to return $10m of pay to the US bank over the 1MDB scandal illustrates the potential pitfalls of ex-employees making the leap into politics.

Cohn cashed in $284m in Goldman Sachs bonuses, stocks and other investments when he joined President Donald Trump’s White House in 2017 as director of the National Economic Council to avoid conflict of interest clauses. Now, the bank wants $10m of it back.