1MDB scandal: US investigating 'payments' to ex Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner

US federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating an alleged transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a former employee of the scandal-plagued 1Malaysia Development Berhad investment fund, to a then-senior banker of the Southeast Asia operation of the Goldman Sachs Group.

Former executive Tim Leissner, who lives in Los Angeles, left Goldman Sachs in early 2016. A source told Bloomberg that the transfer was an investment in a start-up company that Leissner was backing with the former 1MDB employee. Another source said an internal investigation by Goldman Sachs failed to spot the transfer, Bloomberg reported.

Prosecutors are also looking into Goldman Sachs' role in helping to raise more than $6 billion (£4.1bn, €5.4bn) years ago for 1MDB, according to sources.

A second probe by the US Justice Department joins others in Singapore, Luxembourg and Switzerland as authorities attempt to trace money missing from the fund.

Swiss prosecutors have said they have "serious indications" that billions were misappropriated from the 1MDB, whose advisory board was headed by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Both 1MDB and the premier have denied any wrongdoing.

The Wall Street Journal recently obtained documents, which were corroborated by sources, revealing that Najib's film-producer stepson Riza Aziz used suspected funds from the 1MDB fund to buy a massive $33.5m (£23.2m, €29.5m) duplex in the Park Laurel condominium tower overlooking Manhattan's Central Park, as well as a $17.5m (£11.8m, €15.3m) mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

The purchases are under investigation by the FBI.