Former army protection contractor Leonard “Fats Leonard” Francis was sentenced Tuesday to fifteen years in jail for masterminding a decade-long bribery scheme that swept up dozens of US navy officers, federal prosecutors stated.
Janis L Sammartino, the US district choose, additionally ordered Francis to pay $20m in restitution to the navy and a $150,000 wonderful, in accordance with a press release from the US legal professional’s workplace. He was additionally ordered to forfeit $35m in “ill-gotten proceeds from his crimes”, the assertion stated.
Prosecutors stated the sentence outcomes from Leonard’s first responsible plea in 2015 regarding bribery and fraud, his intensive cooperation with the federal government since then, and one other responsible plea on Tuesday for failing to seem for his unique sentencing listening to in 2022.
Shortly earlier than he was resulting from be sentenced in September 2022, Leonard reduce off a GPS monitor he was sporting whereas beneath home arrest and fled the nation. He was later arrested in Venezuela and introduced again to the US in December 2023.
Sammartino sentenced him to greater than 13 1/2 years for the bribery and fraud prices plus 16 months for failing to seem, to be served consecutively.
“Leonard Francis lined his pockets with taxpayer {dollars} whereas undermining the integrity of US Naval forces,” stated Tara McGrath, a US legal professional, in Tuesday’s assertion. “The influence of his deceit and manipulation can be lengthy felt, however justice has been served at the moment.”
Prosecutors stated Francis’s actions led to one of many largest bribery investigations in US army historical past, which resulted within the conviction and sentencing of almost two dozen navy officers, protection contractors and others on numerous fraud and corruption prices.
An enigmatic determine who was 6ft 3in tall and weighed 350lbs at one time, Francis owned and operated his household’s ship servicing enterprise, Singapore-based Glenn Protection Marine Asia Ltd, or GDMA, which provided meals, water and gasoline to vessels. The Malaysian protection contractor was a key contact for US navy ships at ports throughout Asia for greater than twenty years. Throughout that point, Francis wooed naval officers with Kobe beef, costly cigars, live performance tickets and wild intercourse events at luxurious inns from Thailand to the Philippines.
In change, officers, together with the primary active-duty admiral to be convicted of a federal crime, hid the scheme during which Francis would overcharge for supplying ships or cost for pretend providers at ports he managed in south-east Asia. The officers handed him categorised info and even went as far as redirecting army vessels to ports that had been profitable for his Singapore-based ship servicing firm.
In a federal sting, Francis was lured to San Diego on false pretenses and arrested at a resort in September 2013. He pleaded responsible in 2015, admitting that he had supplied greater than $500,000 in money bribes to navy officers, protection contractors and others. Prosecutors say he bilked the navy out of at the very least $35m. As a part of his plea deal, he cooperated with the investigation resulting in the navy convictions. He confronted as much as 25 years in jail.
Whereas awaiting sentencing, Francis was hospitalized and handled for renal most cancers and different medical points. After leaving the hospital, he was allowed to remain out of jail at a rental house, on home arrest with a GPS ankle monitor and safety guards.
However three weeks earlier than his scheduled sentencing in September 2022, he snipped off his monitor and made a brazen escape, setting off a world search. Officers stated he fled to Mexico, made his approach to Cuba and ultimately obtained to Venezuela.
He was arrested greater than two weeks after his disappearance – caught earlier than he boarded a flight on the Simon Bolivar Worldwide Airport exterior Caracas. Venezuelan officers stated he had supposed to achieve Russia.
The instances had been dealt with by the US legal professional’s workplace in an effort to be impartial of the army justice system. However they’ve got here beneath scrutiny.
The felony convictions of 4 former navy officers had been vacated following allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Sammartino agreed to permit them to plead responsible to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 wonderful every.
Final 12 months, Sammartino dominated that the lead federal prosecutor within the officers’ case dedicated “flagrant misconduct” by withholding info from protection legal professionals, however that it was not sufficient to dismiss the case.
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