A former Goldman Sachs banker has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in a $4.5 billion scheme to ransack a Malaysian state investment fund.

Former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner was sentenced to two years in prison by a judge in a New York court on Thursday after playing a key role in a multi-billion dollar scandal involving Malaysia's sovereign fund 1MDB.

Tim Leissner had pleaded guilty and cooperated with federal prosecutors investigating the looting of billions of dollars from the Malaysian sovereign-wealth fund.