A federal prosecutor and a criminal defence attorney presented contrasting portraits of a former Goldman Sachs Group managing director who went on trial on 14 February on charges related to the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian government fund.

In opening statements, Justice Department attorney Brent Wible told a jury in New York that the onetime banker, Roger Ng, conspired with Malaysian financier Jho Low and others to bribe government officials and launder money to secure lucrative business deals with 1Malaysia Development Bhd, a state-controlled economic development company known as 1MDB. Ng received $35m in kickbacks for his role in the scheme, Wible said.