--- title: "This is why the ‘Fat Leonard’ scandal is a very serious problem" date: "2018-03-31" modified: "2020-10-22" authors: - name: "Eric Milzarski" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/eric.md" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-trending/this-is-why-the-fat-leonard-scandal-is-a-very-serious-problem/" categories: - "History" - "Military News" - "Navy" --- # This is why the ‘Fat Leonard’ scandal is a very serious problem ![]() United States Seventh Fleet has new damning controversy worse than everything else the "Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club" has had to deal with this year. This time it isn't about a [Petty Officer 3rd Class]() hiding in an engine room, disastrously [low morale]() among lower enlisted, or [another collision](). --- At the time of writing this, 440 active-duty and retired sailors, to include 60 Admirals, are being investigated for ethics violations in connection to Leonard Glenn Francis and Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Formal criminal charges have been field against 34 personnel, 19 of whom have already stood in Federal court. All of them pleaded guilty. To put this into context: the U.S. Navy has [only 210 Admirals]() on active duty. The Singaporean contractor, known as "Fat Leonard," was arrested [in September 2013]() for bribery and defrauding the U.S. government through falsified service charges. He is serving 25 years and forfeited $35 million from his personal assets. $35 million is the amount of money *he admits* to swindling out of the Navy. ![]() Francis managed to con the Navy for over ten years by bribing Navy officials to look the other way and worming his way into meetings with Admirals to gain insider knowledge. His bribes included alcohol-fueled parties, private vacations, pure cash, and many other luxuries. The bribery with the worst optics still remains the six figures worth of prostitutes he would bring to those officials. [Capt. Daniel Dusek](), the former commander of the USS Bonhomme Richard, received a 46-month prison sentence and ordered to pay $100k in fines and restitution for connections to the scandal. Dusek admits to "succumbing to temptations before him" and gave classified information to "Fat Leonard." ![]() *Capt. Dusek's testimony has been invaluable thus far in weeding out the corruption.* Francis received a decommissioned British naval vessel, [RFA Sir Lancelot](), and converted it into a party boat, rechristened as the Glenn Braveheart, to entertain top U.S. Navy officials in 2003. Once there, he would entice the Naval officers with the bribes and prostitutes to gain unfettered access into the inner workings of the Navy, use the intimate knowledge and access to secure valuable contracts, and then overcharge the Navy for his fraudulent invoices. The true scope of "Fat Leonard's" corruption is still not known and the number of involved Naval officials isn't known at this time as investigations continue. ## Author Eric is a U.S. Army veteran and was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division where he served as a radio operator. After being honorably discharged, he then pursued a career in the film and television world.He is now the resident "nerd" at We Are The Mighty. To follow Eric on social media: please check out the links below. [Facebook]() ## More - [5 of the most ridiculous things naval officers did with ‘Fat Leonard’]() - [How DEA is tackling our greatest national security threat]() - [Army putting popular howitzer back into production]() - [An Israeli spy claims he ‘had no choice’ but to spy on the United States]() - [Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard details the importance of the service to the nation]() - [Army pilot’s invention could have saved Kobe Bryant]() - [Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Brown Jr. one of TIME’s most influential people of 2020]() - [Make-a-Wish founder and Air Force veteran Frank Shankwitz dead at 77. His legacy will live forever.]()