KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Goldman Sachs Group Inc has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to pay more than US$2 billion (RM8.3 billion) for the bank's role in Malaysia's 1MDB scandal, Bloomberg News reported late on Monday.

The agreement, which may be announced within days, will allow Goldman Sachs to avoid a US criminal conviction over the scandal, the report said, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The US Department of Justice and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Malaysia in September dropped criminal charges against three Goldman Sachs units after the bank agreed to pay US$3.9 billion to settle the probe.

Goldman Sachs had generated about US$600 million in fees for its work with the Malaysian Sovereign wealth fund, which included three bond offerings in 2012 and 2013 that raised US$6.5 billion. — Reuters