'Fat Leonard,' Navy contractor behind one of the U.S. military's biggest scandals, sentenced to 15 years

This undated photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Leonard Francis. (U.S. Marshals Service via AP)

SAN DIEGO -

Former military defence contractor Leonard "Fat Leonard" Francis was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for masterminding a decade-long bribery scheme that swept up dozens of U.S. Navy officers, federal prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino also ordered Francis to pay US$20 million in restitution to the Navy and a $150,000 fine, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. He was also ordered to forfeit US$35 million in "ill-gotten proceeds from his crimes," the statement said.

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Prosecutors said the sentence resulted from Francis' first guilty plea in 2015 concerning bribery and fraud, his extensive cooperation with the government since then and another guilty plea Tuesday for failing to appear for his original sentencing hearing in 2022.

Shortly before he was due to be sentenced in September 2022, Francis cut off a GPS monitor he was wearing while under house arrest and fled the country. He was later arrested in Venezuela and brought back to the U.S. in December 2023.

Sammartino sentenced him to more than 13 1/2 years for the bribery and fraud charges, plus 16 months for failing to appear. The sentences are to be served consecutively.

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

Email and phone messages seeking comment were left Tuesday for William Douglas Sprague, an attorney for Francis.

Sprague, who sought a sentence of just under nine years, argued that his client's cooperation should warrant a lesser sentence, 10 News San Diego reported.

Sprague also said Francis' company provided the Navy with exemplary services for many years.

"Unfortunately, as Leonard acknowledged in his early guilty plea and immediate cooperation, his greed drove him to commit bribery and to commit fraud," Sprague said.

Prosecutors said Francis' actions led to one of the biggest bribery investigations in U.S. military history, which resulted in the conviction and sentencing of nearly two dozen Navy officials, defence contractors and others on various fraud and corruption charges.

An enigmatic figure who was 6-foot-3 and weighed 350 pounds at one time, Francis owned and operated his family's ship servicing business, Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. or GDMA, which supplied food, water and fuel to vessels. The Malaysian defence contractor was a key contact for U.S. Navy ships at ports across Asia for more than two decades. During that time, Francis wooed naval officers with Kobe beef, expensive cigars, concert tickets and wild sex parties at luxury hotels from Thailand to the Philippines.

In exchange, 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 $500,000 in cash bribes to Navy officials, defence contractors and others. Prosecutors say he bilked the Navy out of at least $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 hospitalized 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.

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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.

He was arrested more than two weeks after his disappearance -- caught before he boarded a flight at the Simon Bolivar International Airport outside Caracas. Venezuelan officials said he intended to reach Russia.

The cases were handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in an effort to be independent of the military justice system. But they have came under scrutiny.

The felony convictions of four former Navy officers were vacated following allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Sammartino agreed to allow them to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 fine each.

Last year, Sammartino ruled that the lead federal prosecutor in the officers' case committed "flagrant misconduct" by withholding information from defence lawyers, but that it was not enough to dismiss the case.