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By Craig Whitlock
November 5, 2017
Malaysian maritime tycoon Leonard Glenn Francis (Fat Leonard) with various US Navy Admirals
The “Fat Leonard” corruption investigation has expanded to include more than 60 admirals and hundreds of other U.S. Navy officers under scrutiny for their contacts with a defense contractor in Asia who systematically bribed sailors with sex, liquor and other temptations, according to the Navy. Most of the admirals are suspected of attending extravagant feasts at Asia’s best restaurants paid for by Leonard Glenn Francis, a Singapore-based maritime tycoon who made an illicit fortune supplying Navy vessels in ports from Vladivostok, Russia to Brisbane, Australia. Francis also was renowned for hosting alcohol-soaked, after-dinner parties, which often featured imported prostitutes and sometimes lasted for days, according to federal court records. The 350-pound Francis, also known in Navy circles as “Leonard the Legend” for his wild-side lifestyle, spent decades cultivating relationships with officers, many of whom developed a blind spot to his fraudulent ways. Even while he and his firm were being targeted by Navy criminal investigators, he received VIP invitations to ceremonies in Annapolis and Pearl Harbor, where he hobnobbed with four-star admirals, according to photographs obtained by The Washington Post.
The Navy’s handling of the cases has been largely opaque to the public. The Navy has identified only 10 of the 440 individuals who have come under military investigation and has divulged few details about their ties to Francis, even in cases that have been closed. The official said the Navy has concluded that about half of those under review — 230 people — were not guilty of misconduct. Francis’s widespread overbilling of the Navy had been an open secret for years. In response to a flood of fraud complaints dating to 2006, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) opened more than two-dozen separate investigations into Glenn Defense, according to law-enforcement records. Francis, 53, is in jail in San Diego as he awaits sentencing in federal court. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing “scores” of Navy officials and defrauding the service of more than $35 million. One of his attorneys, Ethan Posner, declined to comment for this article.
America is such a corrupt place now.
It's time to decide to be better.
America is such a corrupt place now.
It's time to decide to be better.
We know best practice where these things are concerned, I have worked with some top U.S. companies that seem to have no problems with designing their vendor/customer relationships such that ethics are basically a part of every meeting, contract, and engagement, to the point that you don't even bring it up, they proactively train you on ethics, so that when you engage with them, you don't violate their ethics. No buying them lunch, no holiday gifts, you have work relationships and the rest is frowned upon as a conflict of interest.
Not surprising that the U.S. military lags behind, it's secretive due to it being military, it's enormously funded, sized, and powerful, and it's still a bit of a boys club vegas rules. Not easy to fight politically either I suspect, but then, I would not hold my breath Trump would, or would even know how, to clean up any government organization.
we all know he ran on a platform of going BACKWARDS .......... he will 'Make Bribery Great Again' ................. in the military, of course ...............
Well I have to say, if you're gonna be unethical in business dealings, these guys made the most of it...parties, food, drink, VIP treatment, sexxor, I mean, I can almost understand why they did it and continued it. If only Trump were so kind as to, while he's screwing the entire nation over, give us some VIP parties...but then, it's only his top folks that get that treatment, the elite of the elite. He's such a man of the people I tell ya.
Careful your TDS is showing. Wouldn’t want to look like a political hack now would you. Funny how you only mention Trump despite the fact that most of this took place under and was discovered under Obama.Well I have to say, if you're gonna be unethical in business dealings, these guys made the most of it...parties, food, drink, VIP treatment, sexxor, I mean, I can almost understand why they did it and continued it. If only Trump were so kind as to, while he's screwing the entire nation over, give us some VIP parties...but then, it's only his top folks that get that treatment, the elite of the elite. He's such a man of the people I tell ya.
‘Fat Leonard’ probe expands to ensnare more than 60 admirals
Disappointing would be an understatement.
Don't you just LOVE how Trump & all of these military folk sit up there, thump their chests, talk about God & country & values, all while they run around the planet reeking havoc, taking bribes, ****ing around on their wives, just warms my heart ............. and these are the ones entrusted to protect not only US but the planet
we are in really great ****ing hands, I tell ya ..................
Read the article carefully. This was taking place BEFORE Trump.
Obama isn't in office, Trump won, get over it. Also, NO COLLUSION!Careful your TDS is showing. Wouldn’t want to look like a political hack now would you. Funny how you only mention Trump despite the fact that most of this took place under and was discovered under Obama.
Obama isn't in office, Trump won, get over it. Also, NO COLLUSION!
Wow....60 Admirals? Sheesh...how many does the Navy have in total? This has to be a significant % of them.
Leonard Glenn Francis, Fat as hell Leonard, provided thousands of dollars in cash, travel expenses, luxury items, and prostitutes to a large number of U.S. uniformed officers, who in turn gave him classified material about the movements of U.S. ships and submarines, confidential contracting information, and information about active law enforcement investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Francis then "exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.
Careful your TDS is showing. Wouldn’t want to look like a political hack now would you. Funny how you only mention Trump despite the fact that most of this took place under and was discovered under Obama.
Absolutely disgusting. This would be a mass culture of treason and poor discipline within the Navy. This internal investigation (began by Navy officials who suspected something fishy <---Get it?) is seven years in the making.
So one has to ask - since the whole scandal began under Obama, was it because of Obama that it happened? Or is it that it was under him that the investigations found what had been happening for quite a few years already?
Lol. Typical stupid response. Unless the vast majority are under investigation ... no biggie.
Lol...what's stupid about it? There are 160 flag officers allowed in the active duty Navy, that's all Admiral ranks from O-7 to O-10. 60 Admirals being investigated composes 37.5%, which I'd say easily qualifies to be described as a "significant % of them".
How about you just hang your head in embarrassment, as you rightly should, and walk away.
60 admirals and hundreds of other U.S. Navy officers
How about you learn to read...
Yeah, I read it just fine. 60 Admirals is over 1/3 of the Admirals in the Navy. Then you have hundreds of others but there are over 54,000 total officers so that probably won't be nearly as big of a %.
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