The man who seduced the 7th fleet: Fat Leonard's trail of corruption

For months, a small team of U.S. Navy investigators and federal prosecutors secretly devised options for a high-stakes international manhunt. Could the target be snatched from his home base in Asia and rendered to the United States? Or held captive aboard an American warship?

Making the challenge even tougher was the fact that the man was a master of espionage. His moles had burrowed deep into the Navy hierarchy to leak him a stream of military secrets, thwarting previous efforts to bring him to justice.

The target was not a terrorist, nor a spy for a foreign power, nor the kingpin of a drug cartel. But rather a 350-pound defense contractor nicknamed Fat Leonard, who had befriended a generation of Navy leaders with cigars and liquor whenever they made port calls in Asia.

Leonard Glenn Francis was legendary on the high seas for his charm and his appetite for excess. For years, the Singapore-based businessman had showered Navy officers with gifts, epicurean dinners, prostitutes and, if necessary, cash bribes so they would look the other way while he swindled the Navy to refuel and resupply its ships.

In the end, federal agents settled on a risky sting operation to try to nab Fat Leonard. They would lure him to California, dangling a meeting with admirals who hinted they had lucrative contracts to offer.

He took the bait. On Sept. 16, 2013, Francis was arrested in his hotel suite overlooking San Diego's harbor. It was the opening strike in a sweep covering three states and seven countries, as hundreds of law enforcement agents arrested other suspects and seized incriminating files from Francis's business empire.

A 51-year-old Malaysian citizen, Francis has since pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery charges. His firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, is financially ruined.

There is a thin line between making a unit operate given the official rules that make it difficult and avoiding corruption.

In theory every article used in a unit has to be requisitioned and accounted for, from paper, radios, vehicle parts of all types, etc. In reality that is not the case, a lot of material ends up being expended on the books but is salvaged and still available for use in a location where it is not needed.

Often times the official TO&E of spares for a shop do not allow for keeping all of the vehicles up to snuff, so there are unofficial stocks of parts, both new, salvaged or traded kept around in placed an inspection will not reveal. Same thing with radios, you name it. There is an entire underground economy to keep things running, all of which the officers are aware of but which they turn a blind eye towards. This is all run by the S4 NCOs and there is a saying no supply sergeant retires poor. But keeping a motor pool operating may depend circumventing the actual requisition system and disposition system.

When the old PRC 77 radios and the associated set equipment was obsoleted out of service they were all supposed to be demilled, but an awful lot of them were not.

On the weapons ammunition side(ordnance), there is also a lot of inefficiency built into the system, though there the accounting and expending rules are much tighter. So ammunition drawn is ammunition expended, you never turn it back. It does not get off the range though, because when you turn back in the brass you had better make over 90% + of the expected scrap brass weight or shit will hit the fan.

But what happens to the scrap ammo after it turned back in? That is rounds that are messed up in stoppages with the M249? It is supposed to be de-milled but back in the 1980s it used to be quietly sold out of Fort Dix for salvage.

With all ordnance and gun parts they now have to be 100% de-milled. Yet many obsolete parts used to drift out of Anniston back in the day when they only made sure the barreled actions were demilled. Back in the mid 1990s it was not unheard of for some chaps at Anniston to show up at the national matches with a trunk load of M14 trigger groups or stocks or what have you. Not anymore but when material is being thrown out at reserve stations (besides ordnance), far after it is obsolete there are times when useful material that technically should be sent to Anniston (or some other responsible depot) for destruction ends up in the trash, to be salvaged by wise chaps who know of its value elsewhere.

It seems that you are talking about the Army or perhaps the Marines.

Maybe you are not familiar with the word, “comshaw”. For example, a ship may need a canvas cover for a sonar transducer but it is not in the budget. A sailor will take some frozen foods, ( Civilian workers on the base love shrimp, ) to a civilian worker and trade the shrimp for the canvas cover. While the practice is ‘questionable’, no one individual actually ‘profits’ from the practice. The civilian workers simply cook the shrimp on the base and eat them immediately.

Everyone in the Navy, including the CNO, is aware of ‘comshaw’ but it is never mentioned! ;-)

The Navy could not survive without ‘comshaw’.

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