Government

'Fat Leonard' Ambles Away From Justice Ahead Of Sentencing In Massive Navy Corruption Case

Like defense contractors everywhere, he got fat on the bloated United States defense budget.

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Navy-1024×683First of all, if you haven’t yet listened to the podcast “Fat Leonard,” go listen to it. You’ll have hours of free entertainment, just so happen to be supporting some great journalism in the process, and actually get to hear quite a bit from the man himself, Fat Leonard, which is rare in podcasts about sweeping criminal wrongdoing.

If you haven’t listened to the podcast, you’re going to need a little background. “Fat Leonard” is the nom de guerre of Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian defense contractor who earned his nickname by weighing in at a reported 350 pounds. He doesn’t seem to mind the moniker, and in fact tends to embrace it as part of being the embodiment of living large.

How did Fat Leonard fund his high-flying lifestyle? Well, like defense contractors everywhere, he got fat on the bloated U.S. defense budget.

You see, Francis (let’s face it, “Fat Leonard” is just a better name) operated a ship-servicing business in Asia. He got U.S. warships to come into ports he controlled by buying off high-ranking Navy officers with a bespoke assortment of expensive liquor, lavish parties, and, of course, prostitutes (along with the occasional six-figure handbag for the wife or significant other of the naval officer being bribed, for obvious reasons). Fat Leonard’s company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, cheated the Navy out of more than $35 million as the fruits of this scheme, according to investigators, by overcharging or charging for fake services.

Fat Leonard was nabbed by U.S. law enforcement officials in San Diego nearly a decade ago. Since then, he has been singing like a canary. Thanks to his cooperation, the U.S. attorney’s office prosecuting the case has secured dozens of convictions, including the first-ever successful federal criminal prosecution against an active-duty admiral.

But apparently Fat Leonard got tired of cooperating. With his own sentencing finally approaching on September 22, Fat Leonard shunned promises of favorable treatment in the U.S. justice system, apparently sliced off his ankle monitor with a pair of heavy scissors, and hit the open road.

It really wasn’t supposed to be that easy. U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino had repeatedly expressed concerns that Fat Leonard might take off despite the ankle monitor, and for a time, at least, ordered that round-the-clock security guards be posted outside his home. It wasn’t immediately clear whether those security guards were still supposed to have been posted when Fat Leonard absconded. However, in an unusual arrangement, the guards worked for a private security firm paid for by Fat Leonard himself, who is, remember, a person who admitted loudly and at length to paying off numerous officials in order to get them to do what he wanted them to do.

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Because this is Fat Leonard we’re talking about, this was no crawling through a Shawshank sewer pipe type of escape either. He was methodical enough to liberate his stuff as well: neighbors told U.S. Marshals after the fact that they had seen several U-Haul trucks loading up at Fat Leonard’s place prior to his departure. I’ve got to say, I respect neighbors who mind their own business.

Since Fat Leonard lived only a brisk 40-minute drive from the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities suspect he is already out of the country. From Mexico, Fat Leonard would have a much easier time ultimately returning to Asia, and to perhaps, safe obscurity.

I certainly don’t think contractors — or anyone else — should bilk the Department of Defense out of our tax dollars. But deep down, a part of me still has to root for Fat Leonard. He did ultimately provide most of the stuff our ships needed, albeit sometimes at high prices. After getting caught, Fat Leonard somewhat redeemed himself for his machinations. He was instrumental in exposing a really problematic rot within our military. You’d expect that U.S. servicemembers being offered bribes — especially high-ranking officers — would have more integrity than the crooked foreign businessman offering them. But apparently not.

At the end of the day, Fat Leonard stayed true to who he was: a sleazy yet likable scoundrel who sold military supplies and wasn’t going to let little things like U.S. laws get in the way of his profits. You’d expect someone like him to attempt to do the sorts of things he did. You would definitely expect better of our top Navy officers though.

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Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of Your Debt-Free JD (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at jon_wolf@hotmail.com.

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