Leonard Glenn Francis, better known as “Fat Leonard,” is a 6-foot-3, 350-pound former Malaysian defense contractor who bribed hundreds of naval officers for classified information over two decades. He ultimately defrauded the U.S. government and U.S. taxpayers of at least $35 million before being arrested in a sting operation in 2013. After Francis’ arrest, nearly 1,000 naval officers, including 91 admirals, came under scrutiny. Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against 34 defendants.
In what became one of the biggest scandals in U.S. Navy history, Francisco bribed naval officers with lavish meals, expensive gifts and orgies in exchange for sensitive national security information.
Undated photo of Leonard Glenn Francis, owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a Singapore-based maritime services company. (NCIS-DCIS case files)
A San Diego judge on Tuesday threw out the felony convictions of five military members who admitted taking bribes from Francis. The conviction was thrown out at the government’s request due to “prosecutorial error.”
Lt. Col. Stephen Shedd had the entire case dropped despite pleading guilty to accepting $105,000 in bribes, meals, services from prostitutes and lodging. Marine Col. Enrico de Guzman and retired U.S. Navy officers Donald Hornbeck, Robert Gorsuch and Jose Luis Sanchez each had felony convictions dropped on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of leaking classified information.
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Court documents say Tuesday’s non-indictment does not mean the military officers did not commit the crimes they were charged with, but that the convictions were vacated because information was withheld from the defense. .
This is just the latest in a series of setbacks in the prosecution of the Fat Leonard case.
Washington Post investigative reporter Craig Whitlock has spent the last decade documenting the Fat Leonard scandal in a new book, “Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Swindled and Seduced the U.S. Navy.”
A new book about “Fat Leonard” by author and Washington Post investigative reporter Craig Whitlock.
“Leonard knew he was giving these women a taste of the lavish life by taking them out to lavish dinners. He organized sex parties with Asian prostitutes. By the time the women received these lavish or illegal gifts, they were completely infatuated with him,” Whitlock said.
Leonard Francis (left) hosted a $60,000 “Christmas Cheer” dinner party in Hong Kong for officers of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, including Rear Adm. Douglas Crowder, who was the strike group’s commander at the time, in 2004. Francis also hired Santa Ninas (Santa Girls) to mingle with the guests. (NCIS-DCIS Case File)
His U.S. Navy contract with Glen Defense Marine Asia, a Singapore-based maritime services provider that supplied food, water and fuel to U.S. Navy assets, led to him charging exorbitant fees. The officers turned a blind eye to what was going on.
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“They didn’t see Leonard as a threat. He was a cheerful 350-pound Malaysian guy who seemed very patriotic. 11:15 He had an American flag on his tie. 11 :19 He co-starred Lee Greenwood with “God Bless the USA” 11:24 So they didn’t see him as some kind of foreign danger, and frankly, they were into it. Tanda. ” Whitlock said.
Undated photo of Leonard Glenn Francis. (Glen Defense Marine Asia)
Francis would often take photos of police officers smiling for the camera at the parties he hosted, which he used as hard evidence to get what he wanted from them.
“They literally called him boss, like he was a commander, because he could give them orders,” Whitlock said. “Leonard used this information as a hammer, so to speak. He didn’t have to use it in the end, but the threat of being able to use it was enough to force the informant and the police officer behind it to do what he did. I wanted it. ”
Francis was lured to San Diego and arrested in a sting operation in 2013. He faced up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2015 to offering more than $500,000 in cash bribes to U.S. military officers.
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Francis’ bribery did not stop even after his arrest. He later persuaded a judge to allow him to be placed on house arrest so that he could be hospitalized and treated for cancer, allowing him to recover more comfortably. In 2022, Francis disconnected his GBS tracker and called an Uber to escape his house arrest. He ended up in Tijuana, Mexico, and eventually ended up in Venezuela, where he was captured and extradited to the United States in a prisoner exchange in December 2023.
Prosecutors are awaiting sentencing to charge Francis with offences related to the escape.
Whitlock told Fox that most admirals and senior officers received light punishment from the Navy or nothing at all.
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“Most of the people who were informants and spies for Leonard knew what they were doing was wrong, but honestly, they thought they’d never get caught,” Whitlock said. said.
