By now, Goldman had established a track record for this kind of transaction, and on March 19, the Hong Kong PFI desk, as with the earlier two issuances, bought the $3 billion bond in its entirety. This time, Prime Minister Najib, who also headed the Finance Ministry, signed a letter of support for the bond, meaning Malaysia’s government promised to repay the debt in the event of a default. For the firm’s work, Goldman made just short of $300 million in profits. In total, over just twelve months, the bank had earned nearly $600 million from selling three bonds for the 1MDB fund—two hundred
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