'Fat Leonard' Francis sentenced to 15 years in massive military bribery scandal

Former Navy contractor Leonard Francis, also known as "Fat Leonard," the mastermind of one of the largest U.S. military bribery scandals, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for his role in the scheme, according to federal prosecutors.

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino handed down a 164-month sentence for bribery and fraud and another 16 months for failing to appear after Francis fled to Venezuela from the United States in September 2022 weeks before he was originally to be sentenced, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Sammartino also ordered Francis to pay $20 million in restitution to the Navy, pay a $150,000 fine and forfeit $35 million in “ill-gotten proceeds from his crimes,” the statement said.

Prosecutors said Francis’s sentence reflects admissions in his first guilty plea in 2015 concerning bribery and fraud, his extensive cooperation with the government since and his guilty plea Tuesday for failing to appear for his original sentencing hearing after he cut off his ankle monitor and fled the country. Francis first fled to Mexico, then Cuba and finally Venezuela, where he was arrested in December and returned to the U.S.

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

Francis’s lawyer, meanwhile, had sought a sentence of less than nine years due to what he claimed was his client’s cooperation with federal prosecutors, 10 News San Diego reported.

Francis, 60, a Malaysian citizen, ran the Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a company that controlled ports in Southeast Asia and supplied the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Eastern Pacific with food, water and fuel.

In one of the biggest bribery investigations in U.S. military history, Francis from 2004 to 2013 won the favor of dozens of Navy officers with millions of dollars in bribes, alcohol, prostitutes, cigars, parties, concert tickets and lavish meals.

In exchange, officers hid the fact that Francis would overcharge for supplying Navy ships or charge the service for fake services at ports he controlled.

He was initially lured to and arrested in a federal sting in San Diego in September 2013, before he pleaded guilty in 2015 to fraud, among other charges.

Prosecutors say he cheated the Navy out of at least $35 million, and more than 30 Navy officials were later charged in the investigation.

As Francis has so far served 2,333 days of his sentence — including time spent in custody in Venezuela at the request of the U.S. government — he has an estimated eight and a half years remaining, according to federal prosecutors.