examiners in 2013 about the firm's securities lending practices. Conspiring to allow $1 billion in bribes to obtain business from 1MDB Malaysian sovereign wealth fund (2015-2020) In July 2009, Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak set up a sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). In 2015, U.S. prosecutors began examining the role of Goldman in helping 1MDB raise more than $6 billion. The 1MDB bond deals were said to generate "above-average" commissions and fees for Goldman amounting close to $600 million or more than 9% of the proceeds. Beginning in 2016, Goldman was investigated for a $3 billion bond created by the bank for 1MDB. U.S. Prosecutors investigated whether the bank failed to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to report suspicious transactions to regulators. In November 2018, Goldman's former chairman of Southeast Asia, Tim Leissner, admitted that more than US$200 million in proceeds from 1MDB bonds went into the accounts controlled by him and a relative, bypassing the company's compliance rules. Leissner and another former Goldman banker, Roger Ng, together with Malaysian financier Jho Low were charged with money laundering. Goldman chief executive David Solomon felt "horrible" about the ex-staff breaking the law by going around the policies and apologized to Malaysians for Leissner’s role in the 1MDB scandal. On December 17, 2018, Malaysia filed criminal charges against subsidiaries of Goldman and their former employees Leissner and Ng, alleging their commission of misleading statements in order to dishonestly misappropriate US$2.7 billion from the proceeds of 1MDB bonds arranged and underwritten by Goldman in 2012 and 2013. On July 24, 2020, it was announced that the Malaysian government would receive US$2.5 billion in cash from Goldman Sachs, and a guarantee from the bank they would also return US$1.4 billion in assets linked to 1MDB bonds. Put together this was substantially less than the US$7.5 billion that had been previously demanded by the Malaysian finance minister. At the same time, the Malaysian government agreed to drop all criminal charges against the bank and that it would cease legal proceedings against 17 current and former Goldman directors. Some commentators argued that Goldman secured a very favorable deal. In October 2020, the Malaysian subsidiary of Goldman Sachs admitted to mistakes in auditing its subsidiary and agreed pay more than $2 billion in fines. Purchase Petróleos de Venezuela bonds (2017) In May 2017, Goldman Sachs purchased $2.8 billion of