Former Navy contractor Leonard Francis, also known as “Fat Leonard,” who masterminded one of the U.S. military's largest bribery scandals, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for his role in the scheme, federal prosecutors said. Ta.
U.S. District Judge Janice Sammartino sentenced Francisco to 164 months in prison for bribery and fraud and failure to appear in court after he fled the U.S. to Venezuela in September 2022, weeks before his original sentencing. He was also sentenced to 16 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. In a statement.
Sammartino also ordered Francis to pay $20 million in restitution to the Navy, pay a $150,000 fine and forfeit $35 million in “illicit proceeds of crime,” according to the statement.
Prosecutors said Francis' sentencing follows his first guilty plea to bribery and fraud in 2015, his extensive cooperation with the government since then, and his first sentencing hearing after cutting off his ankle monitor and fleeing the country. He said this reflected his guilty plea on Tuesday for failing to appear in court. . Francisco first fled to Mexico, then Cuba, and finally Venezuela, but was arrested and returned to the United States in December.
“Leonard Francis enriched his own pockets with taxpayer dollars while undermining the integrity of the U.S. Navy,” U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement. “The effects of his deception and manipulation will be felt for a long time, but justice was served today.”
Meanwhile, Francis' lawyers had asked for a sentence of no more than nine years, citing his client's cooperation with federal prosecutors.10 News San Diego reported.
Francis, 60, a Malaysian national, runs Singapore-based Glen Defense Marine Asia, which manages ports in Southeast Asia and supplies food, water and fuel to the US Navy's 7th Fleet in the Eastern Pacific. was.
One of the largest bribery investigations in U.S. military history, Francisco bribed dozens of naval officers with millions of dollars in bribes, booze, prostitutes, cigars, parties, concert tickets and lavish meals between 2004 and 2013. won the favor of
In return, officers concealed the fact that Francis overcharged for supplies to naval ships and charged for bogus services at ports he controlled.
He was initially arrested in September 2013 in a federal investigation in San Diego, but pleaded guilty in 2015 to fraud and other charges.
Prosecutors said he defrauded the Navy of at least $35 million, and more than 30 Navy officials were later charged in the investigation.
Federal prosecutors say Francisco has served 2,333 days in prison, including time spent in Venezuelan detention at the request of the U.S. government, and is estimated to have 8 1/2 years to live.
