By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-11-06 00:46:45 | Updated at 2024-11-06 03:44:07
3 hours ago
Leonard Francis, the Malaysian military contractor known as “Fat Leonard”, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday for his role in the US Navy’s worst-ever corruption scandal.
Francis, 60, was also ordered to pay US$20 million in restitution to the US Navy by a federal judge in San Diego and to forfeit US$35 million in ill-gotten gains, the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of California said in a statement.
Francis, who ran a military contracting company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, out of Singapore, was arrested in 2013.
He pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering bribes to naval officers to steer work to his shipyards in Asia-Pacific ports, then overcharging the navy to the tune of US$35 million.
According to court documents, Francis handed out more than US$500,000 in cash bribes and provided prostitutes, first-class travel, luxury hotel stays and lavish meals to naval officers, along with expensive gifts like designer handbags and watches.
