The Fat Leonard scandal is an ongoing investigation and prosecution of corruption within the United States Navy during the 2000s and 2010s. It is focused on the activities of ship support contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a Thai subsidiary of the Glenn Marine Group.Craig Whitlock, 'Fat Leonard' scandal swells; three more Navy figures charged, The Washington Post (May 27, 2016).Craig Whitlock, The man who seduced the 7th Fleet, The Washington Post (May 27, 2016). The Washington Post called the scandal "perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War." The company's chief executive, president, and chairman, Malaysian national Leonard Glenn Francis ("Fat Leonard"), bribed a large number of uniformed officers of the United States Seventh Fleet with at least a half million dollars in cash, plus travel expenses, luxury items, parties and prostitutes, in return for classified material. The classified information included the movements of U.S. ships and submarines, confidential contracting information, and details about active law enforcement investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia.
Francis, who is of mixed European and South Asian descent, then "exploited the intelligence for illicit profit, brazenly ordering his moles to redirect aircraft carriers, ships and subs to ports he controlled in Southeast Asia so he could more easily bilk the Navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal." The Navy, through GDMA, even employed divers to search harbors for explosives. He also directed them to author "Bravo Zulu" memos, which is an informal term for a letter of commendation from the Navy given to civilians who have performed outstanding services for the Navy, in order to bolster GDMA's credibility for jobs "well done".Bravo Zulu, U.S. Navy. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
The first activities of the conspiracy were confirmed to have occurred in 2006 when Francis recruited numerous Navy personnel to engage in corruption, including directing contracts toward his firm, disfavoring competitors, and inhibiting legitimate fiscal and operational oversight. The initial co-conspirators labeled themselves "the cool kids" and "the wolf pack."Timeline: Fat Leonard Case, U.S. Naval Institute News, Cid Standifer, March 16, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
U.S. federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against 33 individuals in connection with the Fat Leonard scandal. Of those, 22 pleaded guilty: Francis himself, four of his top aides, and 17 Navy officials, specifically, at least ten commissioned officers, two petty officers, one former NCIS special agent, and two civilian Navy contracting officials.Trump nominee sunk by 'Fat Leonard' corruption scandal, Stars and Stripes, Craig Whitlock, November 26, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2019. In 2022, nine others were awaiting trial in U.S. district court in San Diego but all of these cases have since been resolved through plea deals, some due to prosecutorial misconduct. Separately, five Navy officers were charged with crimes under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and were subject to court-martial proceedings. An additional civilian pleaded guilty to a scandal-related crime in a Singapore court.
Suffering health problems, Francis was hospitalized and released in March 2018. Rather than returning to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, he was granted a medical furlough and at first allowed to stay in San Diego at a private residence owned by one of his physicians, under 24-hour surveillance for which his family paid. At a deposition taken in 2018 in the David A. Morales case, Francis said he was being treated for kidney cancer."Five Years After Arrest, Navy Bribery Mastermind Testifies at Deposition", Greg Moran, September 17, 2018. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
On September 4, 2022, Francis escaped home confinement by cutting off his ankle monitor and disappeared.Fat Leonard's bold escape from California home was judge’s worst fear come true, Mercury News (AP) September 8, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022. He fled to Mexico, chartered a flight to Cuba, then flew on to Caracas, Venezuela, where he was apprehended, 17 days after beginning his escape, preparing to board a flight to Russia.
In November 2024, Francis was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribery, fraud, and failure to appear in court. He was also ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars in restitution to the US Navy. He appealed the 15-year sentencing to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit rejected his appeal on December 18, 2025.
Initiation and conduct of investigation
Discounting whistleblower warnings In 2006, Dave Schaus, a Naval officer, became suspicious of GDMA contracts, but Francis was alerted by an informant, Paul Simpkins, to the scrutiny. Simpkins, a decorated veteran of the U.S. Air Force employed as a civilian contracting officer by the Navy in Singapore, managed to quash any inquiry and had Schaus' position eliminated.Fat Leonard's Crimes on the High Seas, Rolling Stone, Jesse Hyde, March 11, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2018. "What else could I have done to expose this racket?," Schaus asked. Exposed as a whistleblower, he said officers "made my life hell" after discovering he had attempted to initiate an investigation of GDMA.
The Washington Post reported that in 2007, the Navy's Inspector General forwarded a document claiming GDMA was grossly overcharging the Navy for providing port security but the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) may have failed to follow up on the warning. According to a senior Navy officer, "Everybody knew that [Glenn Defense] had been under investigation...Everybody also knew that nothing ever happened with those investigations." After that, the Manila NCIS office got an anonymous letter and documents, alleging GDMA had overcharged for fees, armed guards and other services during a Subic Bay, Philippines port visit by the Fred Stockham container support ship. "I hope you share the same concern when reading these documents and take swift action to stamp out this fraud, waste and abuse," the letter said.
Manila's NCIS agents forwarded the paperwork to the Navy's Singapore contracting office, but it had been infiltrated by GDMA's moles, and they claimed the allegations were false, closing the case. Mike Lang, a contracting officer who worked there from 2006 to 2008, said, "They'd always side with Glenn Defense and paint us as troublemakers. They'd say, 'Why are you harassing our contractors? You're making my job hard'."
Two officials from that office, Simpkins and his subordinate, Sharon Gursharan Kaur who was also a civilian Navy contracting officer, as well as a former GDMA employee, were sentenced to six years and 33 months, respectively, with Kaur doing her time in Singapore. NCIS reportedly opened and closed as many as 27 investigations without taking action against GDMA. NCIS failed to provide an explanation for its lack of action in a significant fraud investigation.
Tepid responses Documents obtained by The Washington Post via Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIAs) revealed that after al-Qaeda committed the October 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Navy's Economic Crimes unit was reduced from a staff of 140 to only nine persons, most having been reassigned to focus on terrorism. At least 27 separate investigations had been opened, but later closed without action, thanks to the intervention of senior Navy personnel who were in league with Francis.
The lack of enthusiasm for oversight might have been motivated in part by GDMA's demonstrable ability to deliver the sometimes complex level of services the Navy sought. In 2016, Commander Mike Misiewicz, an officer who was later convicted, told Defense News, "He was a crook, but he was our crook."Paying the Price: The Hidden Cost of the ‘Fat Leonard’ Investigation, U.S. Naval Institute, Sam LaGrone, January 24, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2019. John Hogan, the NCIS executive assistant director for criminal operations, admitted, "In hindsight, maybe we could have dug a little deeper than we did."
Ray Mabus, who was appointed Navy Secretary by President Barack Obama in 2009, admitted his branch was vulnerable to contracting fraud and should have performed better oversight: "I'm not going to defend at all opening and closing 27 cases. Something should have raised a red flag along there somewhere...There were people inside the Navy who were trying to shut this down, who were coming up with reasons not to pursue it." In 2010, a civilian Navy attorney drafted restrictive ethics guidelines for the 7th Fleet. Two admirals friendly to Francis were said to be responsible for seeing that they were delayed and diluted over the next years, before being implemented.
Eventual actions In 2010, Navy officials became suspicious that some of the bills submitted by GDMA from Thailand were padded. The escalating costs prompted the Navy to build a logistics team to keep contracts somewhat in check, but it was frustrated because Francis had a spy, Jose Luis Sanchez, feeding the team's information back to Francis. Sanchez later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and in 2022, awaits sentencing. Despite the increasing awareness that the Navy was being subjected to massive fraud, GDMA was able to contract to deliver $200 million in services in 2011 alone.
After a three-year investigation and having planted false information that their inquiries had been closed, putting Francis off his guard, federal agents lured him to the United States. In September 2013, he was arrested at a San Diego hotel in a sting operation. He pleaded guilty in January 2015 and was awaiting sentencing.
Francis admitted to using his U.S. Navy contacts, including ship captains, to obtain classified information and to defraud the Navy of tens of millions of dollars by having ships directed to specific ports which he serviced in the Pacific and falsifying service charges. In his plea, Francis identified seven Navy officials who accepted bribes. He faced a maximum prison sentence of 25 years and agreed to forfeit $35 million in personal assets, an amount he admitted to overcharging the Navy.Admiral's illicit history with ‘Fat Leonard’ goes back 20 years, prosecutors say, The Washington Post, Craig Whitlock, April 19, 2017. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
Due to medical problems, he was allowed to live under home detention beginning at least 2018 in San Diego. Due to be sentenced on September 22, 2022, he became a fugitive on September 5, after cutting off his ankle monitor.
Scope of inquiry and prosecutions Since 2013, 31 people have been criminally charged in connection with the Fat Leonard bribery and corruption scandal. According to investigators, by November 2017, more than 440 people — including 60 admirals — have come under scrutiny under the inquiry.Craig Whitlock, Navy officers convicted of corruption in 'Fat Leonard' scandal haven't lost their pensions, The Washington Post (March 18, 2017).Craig Whitlock & Kevin Uhrmacher, Prostitutes, vacations and cash: The Navy officials 'Fat Leonard' took down, The Washington Post (last updated March 26, 2018). The Navy held a military trial for a still-serving commander, David A. Morales, the first not left to civilian prosecution. He was charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, false official statements, failure to obey lawful orders, and conduct unbecoming an officer. He was acquitted of the first three charges in a bench trial, only found guilty of failure to obey lawful orders and conduct unbecoming.Navy files first charges under military law in ‘Fat Leonard’ scandal, The Washington Post, Craig Whitlock, June 19, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017.