A former defense contractor has been sentenced to over a decade behind bars and substantial financial penalties for being the mastermind behind a decade-long bribery scheme involving dozens of U.S. Navy officers.
According to prosecutors, Leonard Francis, colloquially known as Fat Leonard, operated Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, supplying food, water, and fuel to U.S. navy vessels during the 2000s and 2010s.
During that time, he is accused of bribing naval officers with beef, concert tickets, expensive cigars, cash, luxury hotel rooms, sex parties, and more in exchange for ignoring Francis’s overcharging for supplying ships and charging for fake services.
Prosecutors say Naval officers also passed Francis’s classified information and redirected military vessels to ports that would benefit Glenn Defense Marine Asia financially. The resulting investigation uncovered what Prosecutors call the biggest bribery investigation in U.S. military history.
Nearly two dozen Navy officials, including an admiral and defense contractors, were convicted on fraud and corruption charges.
For his role in the scheme, U.S. District Judge for California, Janis L. Sammartino, sentenced Francis to 15 years behind bars with a $150,000 fine. Sammartino has also ordered Francis to forfeit $35 million earned through the scheme and pay $20 million in restitution to the U.S. Navy.
U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said the scandal had undermined the U.S. Navy, leaving long-term damage to its reputation.
“Leonard Francis lined his pockets with taxpayer dollars while undermining the integrity of U.S. Naval forces,” she said. “The impact of his deceit and manipulation will be long felt, but justice has been served today.”
William Douglas Sprague, an attorney for Francis, said his client’s early guilty plea and exemplary services provided to the Navy should warrant a lesser sentence. Sprague argued for under nine years behind bars as a penalty.
“Unfortunately, as Leonard acknowledged in his early guilty plea and immediate cooperation, his greed drove him to commit bribery and to commit fraud,” Sprague said.
Francis was arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty in 2015. As part of a plea deal, he cooperated with the investigation, leading to the arrest and conviction of others involved in the scheme.
He initially faced up to 25 years in prison, but the prosecutors asked for a lower sentence based on Francis’s cooperation. Sammartino handed down a sentence of 13 1/2 years in prison for bribery and fraud charges plus 16 months for failing to appear in court, all to be served consecutively.
While awaiting sentencing, Francis was hospitalized and treated for renal cancer. After being discharged from medical care, he was placed under house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor.
Shortly before he was due to be sentenced in September 2022, Francis cut off a GPS monitor and fled the country. He was later arrested in Venezuela and returned to the United States in December 2023 as part of a prisoner swap.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
