SAN DIEGO (CN) - A Navy commander on Tuesday pleaded guilty to bribery, including accepting prostitutes and cash to give a defense contractor classified ship schedules and other internal Navy information.
Commander Jose Luis Sanchez, 42, is the fifth of seven defendants to plead guilty in the scheme involving Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a Singapore-based defense contractor.
He is the highest-ranking official to plead guilty in what U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy called a "pernicious fraud and bribery scheme."
Sanchez admitted that he took at least seven bribes from GDMA CEO Leonard Glenn Francis from 2009 to 2013. He also "admitted that he tipped Francis off about investigations into GDMA overbillings and briefed Francis on internal U.S. Navy deliberations," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
The four men who previously pleaded guilty were Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent John Beliveau, Petty Officer First Class Dan Layug, and GDMA executives Alex Wisidagama and Edmond Aruffo.
Also Tuesday, Navy Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, 47, who was previously charged via information, was indicted by a federal grand jury on seven additional bribery counts, similar to the ones to which Sanchez pleaded guilty.
Sanchez will be sentenced on March 27.
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
Alaska, Hawaiian Airlines April 17, 2024 -
-
Contributor-Test-Post-2024-04-12 April 12, 2024 -
