The Navy has filed criminal charges against an unnamed officer for allegedly accepting suckling pigs as a bribe.
The unnamed officer, involved in what’s become known as the “Fat Leonard” scandal, one of the largest scandals in the history of the Navy, will be revealed early next week during a preliminary hearing in Norfolk, Va., The Washington Post reports.
Documents indicate that the officer conspired with Leonard Glenn Francis, owner of defense contracting firm Glenn Defense Marine Asia, in exchange for alleged bribes including pigs, prostitutes and tickets to a Julio Iglesias concert and Gucci fashion show. The bribes reportedly occurred from March 2012 and September 2013 in different places all over East Asia and Hawaii.
As such, the officer has been charged with graft, bribery and adultery, among other offenses. The last time he put in a request for an item from Francis came in August 2013. During that time, the officer allegedly asked Francis for a bottle of champagne.
The significance of this case is that this unnamed officer could be the first to be court-martialed in the Fat Leonard scandal. While the personnel involved face federal criminal charges, the Navy has been much more quiet about its own investigations. The Department of Justice has referred 200 cases to the Navy. More potential courts-martial are likely to come down the pipe in the future, two defense lawyers told The Washington Post.
Last week, a judge sentenced retired Navy Captain Michael Brooks to more than three years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery as part of the sprawling Fat Leonard scandal. Brooks accepted cash and prostitutes and in exchange used his influence to grant GDMA’s vessels with clearance, which meant they were exempt from inspections, duties and taxes. This authority has never before been given to a defense contractor. To make matters worse, Brooks allowed Francis to ghostwrite contractor evaluations, describing GDMA’s performance as “phenomenal” and “unsurpassed.”
Francis was arrested in 2013 and plead guilty to defrauding the Navy.
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