It has been known for some time that the Vampire Squid (Goldman Sachs) was heavily involved in the the Malaysian government’s fabulously corrupt 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.

We now know that Goldman Sachs’ then CEO Lloyd Blankfein was directly involved in the program:

Years before Goldman Sachs Group Inc. arranged bond deals now at the heart of globe-spanning corruption probes, the firm’s then-CEO Lloyd Blankfein personally helped forge ties with Malaysia and its new sovereign wealth fund, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Blankfein was the unidentified high-ranking Goldman Sachs executive referenced in U.S. court documents who attended a 2009 meeting with the former Malaysian prime minister, the people said. The meeting was arranged with the help of men who are now tied to the subsequent plundering of the 1MDB fund, according to U.S. court documents unsealed last week.

………

The high-level gathering laid the groundwork for a relationship that would prove profitable for the investment bank. Since then, the use of $6.5 billion that Goldman raised for 1MDB has sparked investigations across several nations, and entangled the U.S. bank in a high-profile corruption probe

This is not a surprise.

Laundering ill-gotten gains is a major profit center for big finance, but their involvement in 1MDB is downright criminal.

Some serious jail time should be in order.