Nearly a decade after pleading guilty, ‘Fat Leonard’ is sentenced in massive Navy bribery scandal

The Malaysian contractor known as “Fat Leonard,” who bribed dozens of high-ranking U.S. Navy officers in the service’s worst-ever corruption scandal, was sentenced Tuesday in San Diego federal court to 15 years in prison.

Leonard Glenn Francis, 60, will likely spend about 8½ more years in federal prison when accounting for the credit he’ll receive from the time he has already been held in custody. He could serve even less if he qualifies for early release, though his attorney warned the judge that a lengthy prison term would be “essentially a death sentence” for Francis, who has dealt with severe health issues.

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino also indicated she would order Francis to pay $20 million in restitution to the Navy on top of the $35 million he was previously ordered to forfeit as part of his plea agreement. Additionally, she ordered Francis’ Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, to pay a $36 million fine.

Francis, who has only ever said a handful of words in open court, somberly addressed the judge and asked for mercy so he could be reunited with his children.

“I sincerely regret my misconduct that led to this day,” Francis said. “I beg for the court’s mercy, leniency and compassion.”

Striking a markedly more humble tone compared to the arrogance and bravado he displayed in a podcast that he secretly recorded in 2021, Francis called his actions “inexcusable and wrong,” referring both to the massive bribery scheme as well as his 2022 escape from house arrest just weeks before a previously scheduled sentencing.

He also credited Sammartino for saving his life by releasing him on medical furlough in 2018, saying it’s a miracle he’s still alive. “I have almighty God and the court to thank for that,” Francis said. Sammatino said she would recommend that Francis serve his custody in a federal medical center prison in North Carolina.

Francis was arrested in late 2013 and pleaded guilty in 2015 to charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States. GDMA, which contracted to provide goods and services to Navy vessels for 25 years in ports across Asia, pleaded guilty to the same charges. Francis also pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of failure to appear related to his flight from custody in 2022.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard told the judge Tuesday that Francis’ corruption scheme reached the “highest levels of the U.S. Navy … to an extent that has never been seen before.” Sheppard said the 36 defendants charged in federal court were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

Francis spent decades ingratiating himself with a rotating cast of officers from the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific. Dating back at least as early as 2004 but likely much longer, he showered those officers with bribes that included gourmet meals, five-star hotel rooms, premium liquor, prostitutes, designer bags and cash. The officers in turn steered ships to the Southeast Asian ports that he controlled. Francis then charged the U.S. government heavily inflated prices for services such as security, tugboats, food, water replenishment and trash removal. He bilked the government out of at least $35 million, according to his plea.

Sammartino, who has overseen nearly all of the related prosecutions over the past 11 years, called Francis’ corruption of the Navy “insidious” and said he helped tarnish the reputations of otherwise respected officers.

“Careers have been ruined and lives shattered,” the judge said. “The ruined lives include yours.”

Francis has two weeks to appeal Sammartino’s sentence, which was more than three years longer than what prosecutors recommended and more than six years longer than what Francis’ attorney requested. Defense attorney Douglas Sprague told the Union-Tribune that he was “very disappointed” in the sentence but would need to consult with Francis before determining whether to appeal.

U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath and dozens of federal law enforcement agents who investigated Francis over the years were among those who attended the hearing, which was a long time coming. It had been more than 11 years since agents arrested Francis and 3,582 days since his guilty plea. During that time, Francis played a lead role in the most dramatic twists in the Navy corruption prosecution.

He became the key witness for the government, providing what prosecutors called “unprecedented” cooperation over the course of 65 meetings. Then in a move that was kept secret for months, Sammartino released him from custody to be treated for kidney cancer and other ailments. Soon, Francis had used the medical furlough to move himself and his family into a $7,000-per-month mansion.

While living large in the multimillion-dollar home, he secretly recorded a podcast with journalist Tom Wright that was released months before he was expected to take the witness stand in a trial against five Navy officers. He never took the stand. Then weeks before he was finally set to be sentenced in September 2022, he absconded, cutting off his GPS ankle monitor and going on the lam. After his capture in Venezuela, he spent 14 months imprisoned before he was traded back to the U.S. last year as part of a prisoner swap.

Sammartino confirmed Tuesday, despite prior confusion, that Francis would receive time-served credit for his Venezuelan prison stay because he was arrested and held at the behest of the U.S. government.

But the judge expressed concerns about the lack of answers and accountability related to his absconding. “Neither you nor the government have explained how that escape occurred,” she said.

Sammartino told Francis he had a talent for identifying vulnerable people and exploiting their weaknesses, but she also credited Francis and his company for upholding their contracts, even when they were overcharging, by keeping Navy ships and U.S. military personnel secure.

Sammartino also credited Francis for his cooperation with prosecutors. Sheppard described Francis’ corruption as staggering, but his cooperation as “equally staggering,” saying he didn’t know of any other criminal defendant who has ever provided as much insight to investigators and prosecutors.

The information provided by Francis led authorities to investigate some 1,000 Navy personnel and refer more than 600 of them to a Navy body tasked with determining whether to dole out administrative or disciplinary action. Prosecutors secured guilty pleas or jury convictions against more than 30 people, most of them Navy officers who took bribes from Francis, though government attorneys later admitted to serious issues involving the prosecutions, including trial misconduct, that led to eight defendants having their felony convictions reduced to misdemeanors and one defendant having his case entirely dismissed.

Even after Tuesday’s sentencing, several other questions still remain about the sprawling corruption scandal, most notably whether Francis will appeal his sentence and whether he will pay what he owes in forfeiture and restitution to the government. “I don’t have any insights into his ability to pay,” Sheppard told the judge Tuesday.

In the podcast he recorded, Francis appeared to boast about hiding his assets in the time between his arrest and his guilty plea.

Francis’ wealth was at the heart of his corruption scheme. He constantly flashed that wealth, living in a 40,000-square-foot house in Singapore with a fleet of luxury vehicles at his disposal and a crew of employees tending to his needs.

Despite his bribery and corruption being an open secret among 7th Fleet sailors, Francis was able to stay one step ahead of investigators for years, at one point bribing a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent to leak him details about criminal probes.

The stunning corruption scheme finally came to an end in September 2013, when authorities tricked his NCIS mole into thinking the most serious investigations had been closed and then invited Francis to San Diego for a meeting with Navy officials. After the meeting, armed federal agents burst into Francis’ 21st-floor hotel room at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina and arrested him.