Malaysia has charged Goldman and 17 current and former directors of its units for allegedly misleading investors over bond sales totalling $6.5 billion that the U.S. bank helped raise for sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Maeve DuVally said the bank continues to cooperate with the regulators' investigations, but declined to comment further. The Department of Justice also declined to comment.

Shares of the U.S lender were up 2.3% in the morning trade.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington and C. Nivedita in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Arun Koyyur)