Posted on 12/29/2016 8:53:30 AM PST by drop 50 and fire for effect
For Fat Leonard, conning the U.S. Navy was a big piece of cake.
The Navy allowed the worst corruption scandal in its history to fester for several years by dismissing a flood of evidence that the rotund Asian defense contractor was cheating the service out of millions of dollars and bribing officers with booze, sex and lavish dinners, newly released documents show.
The Singapore-based contractor, Leonard Glenn Francis, found it especially easy to outwit the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the renowned law enforcement agency that has inspired one of the longest-running cop shows on television.
Starting in 2006, in response to a multitude of fraud complaints, NCIS opened 27 separate investigations into Francis’s company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia. In each of those instances, however, NCIS closed the case after failing to dig up sufficient evidence to take action against the firm, according to hundreds of pages of law enforcement records obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.
Known as Fat Leonard for his 350-pound physique, Francis held lucrative contracts to resupply U.S. warships and submarines in ports throughout Asia. He was also legendary within the Navy for throwing hedonistic parties, often with prostitutes, to entertain sailors.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I retired from the Army and still work for it as a contractor. The headquarters I work for is constantly plagued by real constraints on available funds, equipment, and people.
The deep corruption seen here in a routine operation burns me up as those dollars were needed elsewhere. Here's hoping that the new administration digs deep into our deeply broken defense acquisition and contracting systems.
Ping. I saw that both of you posted on this topic a few months ago.
In my single face to face encounter with them, I thought they were a bunch of a-holes. "Renowned" indeed.
Some cultures believe lying and cheating are good business practices.
“...booze, sex and lavish dinners...”
So don’t rock the boat; obama’s Pentagon in action.
Naval officers being bribed with booze, sex and lavish dinners?
Whoulda thunkit?
Yeah, I know, its weird. They’ll be laying off contractors during a slow time in testing because of budget constraints, that will be needed later when testing picks up, and fussing over paper expenses, and then you hear of a scandal like THAT.
Its like the DoD is penny-wise and pound-foolish.
// Some cultures believe lying and cheating are good business practices. //
*cough* China. *cough*
// Naval officers being bribed with booze, sex and lavish dinners?
Whoulda thunkit? //
Before they go into the backroom with a paid-for hooker, the UCMJ should be in the back of their mind.
That’s why I laugh at FOX Wall Street program. They lambast Trump for going after Boeing and Lockheed saying Trump is backing out of financing our military. If we cut the fraud and corruption our military men and women would have everything they need and research would be light years ahead of everyone else
I understand wanting to reward your constituents, but how about having them make things that are needed
During my long term of service in the Navy, always thought they were akin to the Key Stone Cops.
I retired from the AF and have worked as a contractor for 20 years. I've seen plenty of this crap, too.
A section in the Navy is in charge of evaluating an expensive program. If the Navy fails the contractor, the people who are doing the evaluating will loose their jobs and the division will all go away. Great incentive to continue a program that's millions over budget, 10 years behind schedule, and has never successfully completed a single mission.
We were asked to evaluate a weapons trainer. All of the evaluators were given a chance to test the trainer and then we all adjourned to neutral zones to write our own critique and determine if the AF should purchase this $600,000 per copy trainer. EVERYONE on the evaluation team said it didn't fulfill a valid requirement and was highly overpriced. The Lt Col in charge of the purchasing bought it anyway and six months later he got out of the AF and went to work for the contractor who built the trainer.
A stiff “you know what” almost always overrides common sense.
“They lambast Trump for going after Boeing and Lockheed saying Trump is backing out of financing our military. If we cut the fraud and corruption our military men and women would have everything they need and research would be light years ahead of everyone else”
Just replacing a few F35s with F18s alone saves many millions.
Do Navy brass REALLY want criminal investigators who are GOOD at uncovering corruption? Doesn’t look like it, and I can guess at why.
“Naval officers being bribed with booze, sex and lavish dinners?”
SOP, nothing left for the enlisted guys/gals who keep the ships right side up.
Maybe renowned back when it was just NIS some thirty years ago, but not today; and as for the TV show, if the Navy was as bad as depicted, nobody would ever join!
I never wasted my time with either of the spin-offs, better things to do with my time. Now the only scripted show I watch is Vikings.
Trump and Mattis will fix crap like this. They’d better. Those resources SHOULD HAVE been used to repair our ageing equipment. Lost two more of our people in a chopper crash this morning. TREASON TRIALS/CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS IN ORDER!
You may be on to the key to the whole mess.
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