Malaysia’s ‘Fat Leonard’ gets 15 years’ jail for US Navy corruption scandal

The former fugitive provided prostitutes, first-class travel, luxury hotel stays and cash bribes to US naval officers, court documents show

Reading Time:4 minutes

Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis pictured after his capture in Venezuela in 2022. Photo: Instagram/Interpol Venezuela via AFP

Published: 8:42am, 6 Nov 2024Updated: 9:50am, 6 Nov 2024

Leonard Glenn 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. His company, which contracted to provide goods and services to Navy vessels for 25 years in ports across Asia, pleaded guilty to the same charges.

Happier times … Leonard Francis ran a military contracting company out of Singapore known as Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Photo: Handout

Francis also pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge related to his flight from custody and failure to appear for his previously set sentencing in 2022.