Malaysian contractor flees ahead of US Navy scandal sentencing

A Malaysian defence contractor on the centre of one of many greatest bribery scandals in United States army historical past is on the run after fleeing his residence in California, three weeks earlier than he confronted sentencing, the US Marshals Service has stated.

US Marshals in San Diego tweeted a “wished” discover on Wednesday for Leonard Glenn Francis — popularly often called “Fats Leonard” — who was scheduled to be sentenced later this month after pleading responsible in 2015 to his position in a $35m bribery case involving senior US Navy officers.

The San Diego Fugitive Activity Power is “looking” for Francis for violating the circumstances of his pre-trial launch after he lower off his GPS ankle monitor and fled his residence.

Regulation enforcement officers went to Francis’s residence in San Diego after receiving an alert on Sunday that the GPS monitor Francis had worn whereas in residence confinement was being tampered with.

“After an intensive verify of the residence, officers have been unable to find Francis. Officers have been capable of find the GPS ankle monitor that had been lower off. His present whereabouts are unknown,” the Marshals Service stated in an announcement on Tuesday.

Francis was scheduled to be sentenced on September 22 after working with US prosecutors for years, resulting in dozens of convictions within the huge army contract bribery case.

4 Navy officers have been discovered responsible to this point, whereas one other 29 individuals, together with naval officers, contractors and Francis himself, have pleaded responsible, in line with US media reviews.

Mexico or Asia?

Almost a dozen US regulation enforcement companies at the moment are trying to find Francis.

However officers acknowledged he might already be in Mexico, and presumably on his method again to Asia.

Almost a decade in the past, Francis was arrested in a San Diego lodge as a part of a federal sting operation. Investigators say he and his firm, the Singapore-based Glenn Protection Marine Asia, cheated the Navy out of greater than $35m by shopping for off dozens of high-ranking Navy officers with booze, intercourse, lavish events and different presents.

In trade, the officers, together with the primary active-duty US admiral to be convicted of a federal crime, hid the scheme wherein Francis would overcharge the US Navy for supplying ships or cost for pretend providers at ports he managed in Southeast Asia.

The case, which delved into salacious particulars about US service members dishonest on their wives and looking for out intercourse employees, was a humiliation to the Pentagon.

It was prosecuted by the US lawyer’s workplace, which supplied an impartial authority from the army justice system. Expenses have been finally introduced towards greater than 30 individuals.

The primary to be convicted within the case was John Beliveau II, a supervisor within the US Naval Legal Investigative Service (NCIS), who pleaded responsible in 2012 to conspiracy and bribery costs.

In response to the plea, Beliveau gave Francis recommendation on learn how to thwart an NCIS investigation towards him, leaked the names of witnesses, and shared a whole lot of pages of confidential NCIS recordsdata with him.

In trade, Beliveau obtained journey, dinners and lodge prices price 1000’s of {dollars} throughout luxurious journeys to Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand, not less than 5 envelopes of money, and the providers of intercourse employees, the doc stated.

Beliveau was sentenced to 12 years in jail in 2016 and ordered to pay $20m in restitution to the Navy.

“Beliveau tarnished his NCIS badge and offered delicate regulation enforcement data for envelopes of money, luxurious journey and tawdry leisure,” the US Justice Division’s Assistant Lawyer Basic Leslie R Caldwell stated on the time.

“John Beliveau’s deceit was a devastating blow to the US Navy and in the end the nation that he was sworn to guard,” US Lawyer Laura E Duffy of the Southern District of California added.

Flight danger

4 years in the past, US District Courtroom Choose Janis Sammartino feared Francis would possibly abscond when she turned down his lawyer’s request to permit him to be below home arrest with out round the clock safety guards watching the ailing defence contractor.

On the time, Francis was cooperating with prosecutors as they pursued costs towards dozens of Navy officers who accepted bribes.

When requested in regards to the daring escape, the fugitive’s lawyer, Devin Burstein, who had pushed for extra leniency for his shopper, stated: “Right now, I’ve no remark, sorry.”

Choose Sammartino repeatedly maintained that Francis, who was ill and wanted medical care, may solely stay below home arrest if non-public safety guards have been on web site.

At one level, she expressed concern that if he have been to flee and ended up “again in Malaysia for no matter motive,” her identify would come up if anybody requested “who let any individual do that with none safety,” in line with a transcript of a closed-door listening to in February 2018 that was unsealed in January.

It was unclear if round the clock safety guards have been nonetheless in place over the weekend when Francis lower off his GPS monitor and fled.

Supervisory Deputy US Marshal Omar Castillo stated his officers discovered no safety officers on the residence once they arrived on Sunday afternoon, almost seven hours after Francis is believed to have eliminated his ankle monitor with heavy scissors.

Castillo stated neighbours reported seeing U-Haul vans coming and going from Francis’s residence one or two days earlier than the escape.

The house is a few 40-minute drive from the Mexican border, the place automobiles stream into Tijuana and are solely stopped randomly.

Francis could also be exhausting to catch, given his wealth and huge worldwide connections, stated Jason Forge, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego who has labored on a number of high-profile corruption circumstances.

“He doesn’t strike me as the kind of particular person below these circumstances to make a spontaneous resolution,” Forge stated.

“I’m assuming this implies he has deliberate issues out and he has the wherewithal to take action. He’ll most likely be a free hen for some time.”