1MDB-linked banker scrubbed from employers website

SINGAPORE/NEW YORK (August 29): Previously listed as a managing director for Asia on the website of Celcius Holdings Inc, Roger Ng’s presence has been scrubbed, reports Bloomberg.

Ng is a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker, who is embroiled in the multibillion dollar 1MDB scandal.

Celsius is a U.S.- based energy drinks company backed by Hong Kong’s richest man.

Bloomberg reports that Kathy Carliner, an outside spokeswoman for Celsius, declined to comment on the reasons for the removal, or on Ng’s employment status with the firm. 

Horizons Ventures, the venture capital arm of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, which is a key investor in Celsius, also declined to comment. 

Representatives for Ng could not be reached.

Celsius also sports another prominent link to 1Malaysia Development Bhd in the form of a shareholder, former Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner.

Bloomberg reports that Celsius said in April 2015 Leissner would join its board. In early 2016, he left the Goldman Sachs Group. In May 2017, he stepped down from Celsius. 

Ng left the bank in 2014, and became managing director of Celsius in Asia in 2016.

Those familiar with the matter say that it was Ng who had introduced Leissner to 1MDB and Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

Leissner is married to Kimora. Her ex-husband, Russell Simmons was recorded by Bloomberg  talking about investing in the energy drink firm in an April 2015 interview. 

“I was speaking to Kimora,” Simmons said. “She’s married to Tim Leissner and he knew the group in Hong Kong and we talked about what it might be to acquire a big piece of it and we did.”

Celsius has incurred losses for at least the past decade. Its energy drinks claim to burn fat and are sold in Target Corp stores. In Asia, they are distributed by Li’s AS Watson Group.