Navy briber ‘Fat Leonard’ sentenced to 15 years in prison

SAN DIEGO (CN) — Eleven years after his arrest, a federal judge sentenced Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis to 15 years in prison Tuesday for bribing U.S. Navy officers and fleecing $35 million from the federal government in one of the biggest corruption schemes in Navy history.

That “is likely a death sentence” for Francis, who is now 60 and diagnosed with metastatic cancer, his attorney, Doug Sprague of the law firm Covington & Burling said.

Francis, a Malaysian owner of a ship-serving company and a military contractor, pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribery and wire fraud charges in a sprawling investigation involving a conspiracy where Francis and his company paid officers of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet in the Pacific Ocean with money, luxurious dinners, travel and sex workers in exchange for steering ships to ports he controlled and classified Navy ship schedules.

Francis leveraged the schedules to influence Navy ship husbandry contracts, then overcharged the government by more than $35 million for port services such as water, food, trash and waste removal.

Federal prosecutors in a sentencing document filed last month referred to Francis as “overseeing a yearslong bribery and corruption campaign that, for all practical purposes, engulfed a generation of U.S. Navy command staff.”

“Your Honor, I sincerely regret my misconduct that led to today,” Francis said before he was sentenced.

Francis said he has reflected on his crimes in the past 11 years and worked extensively with the government as a cooperating witness in investigations of Navy personnel involved in his bribery scheme. Now, he just wants to return home to Malaysia to be with his family, he said.

“I beg the court’s mercy in sentencing,” he said.

Given his previous time served, including a stint in a Venezuelan jail, Francis could serve at least five or six years in prison, Sprague said. Prosecutors estimated in a release Tuesday, that he has around 8.5 years remaining.

“Leonard Francis lined his pockets with taxpayer dollars while undermining the integrity of U.S. Naval forces,” said U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath in a statement. “The impact of his deceit and manipulation will be long felt, but justice has been served today.”

Francis will also pay $20 million in restitution to the Navy, along with a $150,000 fine. His company, Glenn Defense Marine, was also ordered to forfeit $35 million.

“We are talking about corruption at the highest levels of that Navy that we have never seen before. Ever,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard.

The number of Navy officers who were willing to sell out their duties and oaths for wine, cash, sex workers and other bribes from Francis was staggering, Sheppard said.

Francis’ cooperation with the government and his ability to provide a wealth of evidence about the criminal behavior of Navy officers was also staggering, Sheppard added.

Since his arrest in 2013, Francis’ cooperation with the government led to investigations of hundreds of Navy personnel and dozens of convictions, Sprague said, adding that Francis has already paid $5 million in restitution.

His sentence includes time for failing to appear at his initial sentencing hearing in 2022.

In September 2022 Francis escaped house arrest three weeks before his sentencing by calling an Uber to take him to Mexico. He ended up outside of Caracas, Venezuela, where he was arrested by police as he attempted to board a flight at Simón Bolívar International Airport, possibly trying to get to Russia, officials said.

This past December, the Biden administration announced it would free Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in exchange for the release of Francis and 10 imprisoned Americans.

On the same day Biden announced Francis’ exchange, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino, a George W. Bush appointee, refused government attorneys’ request to allow four Navy officers, who previously pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from the scandal, to change their pleas.

The officers’ June 2022 convictions were vacated in September 2023 due to prosecutorial misconduct that Sammartino deemed “outrageous.” The judge allowed the four men to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 fine.

In January, Francis appeared in court for the first time after his extradition.

In sentencing documents, prosecutors recommended Francis spend just under 12 years in prison and pay $250,000 in fines and an additional $20 million in restitution to the Navy.

Perhaps the court could have handed down a harsher sentence, “but the substantial assistance provided by Francis cannot be ignored, and the degree and significance of his cooperation cannot be overstated regardless of what one thinks of the individual or his underlying criminal conduct,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing document.

As part of Francis’ plea deal, he became a cooperating witness for the government in investigations of other Navy personnel involved in his bribery scheme.

“The recommended sentence promotes respect for the law at home and abroad, as well as provides just punishment and the necessary deterrence to those in and out of uniform who may be considering a similar course of conduct,” prosecutors added in the sentencing document.