‘Fat Leonard’, a fugitive now facing extradition, was behind one of US military’s biggest scandals

WASHINGTON: The extradition of convicted defence contractor Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis to the United States as part of the Venezuelan prisoner swap on Wednesday (Dec 20) is the latest twist in a decade-long salacious saga and bribery scheme that swept up dozens of American Navy officers.

One of the biggest bribery investigations in US military history led to the conviction and sentencing of nearly two dozen Navy officials, defence contractors and others on various fraud and corruption charges. It was punctuated by Francis’ daring escape last year, when he fled from house arrest at his San Diego home to South America.

An enigmatic figure, Francis owned and operated his family’s ship servicing business, Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia or GDMA, which supplied food, water and fuel to vessels.

The Malaysian defence contractor was a key contact for US Navy ships at ports across Asia for more than two decades. During that time he wooed naval officers with Kobe beef, expensive cigars, concert tickets and wild sex parties at luxury hotels from Thailand to the Philippines.

In exchange, the officers, including the first active-duty admiral to be convicted of a federal crime, concealed the scheme in which Francis would overcharge for supplying ships or charge for fake services at ports he controlled in Southeast Asia.

The officers passed him classified information and even went so far as redirecting military vessels to ports that were lucrative for his Singapore-based ship servicing company.

In a federal sting, Francis was lured to San Diego on false pretenses and arrested at a hotel in September 2013.

He pleaded guilty in 2015, admitting that he had offered more than US$500,000 in cash bribes to Navy officials, defence contractors and others. Prosecutors say he bilked the Navy out of at least US$35 million.

As part of his plea deal, he cooperated with the investigation leading to the Navy convictions. He faced up to 25 years in prison.

While awaiting sentencing, Francis was hospitalised and treated for renal cancer and other medical issues. After leaving the hospital, he was allowed to stay out of jail at a rental home, on house arrest with a GPS ankle monitor and security guards.

But three weeks before his scheduled sentencing in September 2022, he snipped off his monitor and made a brazen escape, setting off an international search. Officials said he fled to Mexico, made his way to Cuba and eventually got to Venezuela.