Navy Bribery Case
Fat Leonard, Lady Gaga and the U.S. Navy: A bribery case
I heard about this this ace a few weeks ago while watching CNN. It features ethical violations by naval officers who betrayed their oaths, sex, rock and roll, and probably drugs too.
Leonard Glenn Francis, a wealthy Malaysian contractor at the heart of one of the United States Navy’s largest bribery scandals in decades. At 6 feet 3 inches and 350 pounds, Mr. Francis who is known as Fat Leonard, hosted dinners at luxury hotels in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong for senior officers, dispensing boxes of Cuban cigars and dropping the names of admirals he knew, senior Navy officers said. But as his reputation for lavish parties spread, so too did warnings about his business practices. Emails obtained by criminal investigators show that from 2009 to early 2011, several ship crews and contracting officials filed complaints about his “gold-plated” fees for fuel, port security and other services. In 2010, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened investigations into questionable charges in Thailand and Japan by his company, documents show. However, despite those red flags, in June 2011, the Navy awarded Mr. Francis $200 million in contracts, giving him control over providing supplies and dockside services for its fleet across the Pacific.
Now Mr. Francis is at the center of a widening investigation into an overbilling scheme in which federal prosecutors say he used cash, prostitutes and gifts, including Lion King and Lady Gaga tickets to bribe Navy officials to help him defraud the service out of tens of millions of dollars. Three Navy officials have been arrested and are accused of accepting cash, hookers and all-expense paid trips in exchange for steering ships to ports where Francis' company operates. Two admirals in charge of Navy intelligence: Vice Adm. Ted Branch and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, have had their access to classified material suspended. Neither Branch nor Loveless has been charged
I heard about this this ace a few weeks ago while watching CNN. It features ethical violations by naval officers who betrayed their oaths, sex, rock and roll, and probably drugs too.
Leonard Glenn Francis, a wealthy Malaysian contractor at the heart of one of the United States Navy’s largest bribery scandals in decades. At 6 feet 3 inches and 350 pounds, Mr. Francis who is known as Fat Leonard, hosted dinners at luxury hotels in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong for senior officers, dispensing boxes of Cuban cigars and dropping the names of admirals he knew, senior Navy officers said. But as his reputation for lavish parties spread, so too did warnings about his business practices. Emails obtained by criminal investigators show that from 2009 to early 2011, several ship crews and contracting officials filed complaints about his “gold-plated” fees for fuel, port security and other services. In 2010, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened investigations into questionable charges in Thailand and Japan by his company, documents show. However, despite those red flags, in June 2011, the Navy awarded Mr. Francis $200 million in contracts, giving him control over providing supplies and dockside services for its fleet across the Pacific.
Now Mr. Francis is at the center of a widening investigation into an overbilling scheme in which federal prosecutors say he used cash, prostitutes and gifts, including Lion King and Lady Gaga tickets to bribe Navy officials to help him defraud the service out of tens of millions of dollars. Three Navy officials have been arrested and are accused of accepting cash, hookers and all-expense paid trips in exchange for steering ships to ports where Francis' company operates. Two admirals in charge of Navy intelligence: Vice Adm. Ted Branch and Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, have had their access to classified material suspended. Neither Branch nor Loveless has been charged