The Los Angeles Times reported that Kimora had taken issue with The New York Post’s report last Thursday linking her signature fashion line to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into 1MDB funds.
Kimora is married to Tim Leissner, the former senior banker for Goldman Sachs in Asia who handled transactions for 1MDB which are now under probe by law enforcement agencies in various countries.
The New York Post’s Page Six had claimed that it was “widely believed” that Leissner financed the launch of the Kimora Lee Simmons brand.
The report said that Goldman Sachs was paid exorbitant fees for selling 1MDB bonds, and that prosecutors would likely seek to claw back the commissions.
Kimora told the Los Angeles Times: “I’ve been around for quite some time. I’m an old lady so I’ve always been self-sustaining, self-funded.”
She added: “I fund my own business.… I’ve been in the fashion industry since [age] 12, modeling and all that. So all my money, not that I want to say it that way, this is my third marriage that I’m on so, no, my husband has nothing to do with my professional life.”
Kimora married investment banker Leissner in 2014.
She said her new brand was being sold at Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor, her own site as well as a few other e-tailers, adding that international distribution, including to Singapore and Indonesia, was a priority.
On the Post’s report, she said, “I think it does a disservice to the fashion business and to designers like me. I’m one of the few designers who is here with their namesake label. I’m one of the few women and certainly one of the few women of colour.”
The New York Post report comes on the heels of a Bloomberg report on April 28 that US prosecutors investigating Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s role in raising almost US$6 billion for Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund are asking questions about money flowing through accounts linked to Leissner.
It said they were interviewing bankers familiar with 1MDB about Leissner’s network of relationships, especially with politically connected Malaysians.
Goldman sold almost US$6 billion in bonds for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, when Leissner led the bank’s efforts in Southeast Asia. It earned US$593 million, or 9% – several times the industry average for underwriting risky bonds, Bloomberg reported.
Following an internal company probe, Goldman put Leissner on administrative leave in early 2016, but he resigned shortly after.
Singapore, which has come down hard on unlawful 1MDB transactions going through banks based there, has banned Leissner from working in the securities industry in Singapore for 10 years. It has closed the local units of at least two banks over 1MDB transactions.