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SAN DIEGO (AP) — Three weeks before he faced sentencing, the Malaysian defense contractor at the center of one of the biggest bribery investigations in U.S. military history made an escape as stunning and brazen as the case itself: U-Haul trucks were seen at his home in a tony San Diego neighborhood before Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard,” snipped off his ankle monitor and disappeared. Nearly a dozen U.S. law enforcement agencies were searching for Francis on Tuesday. But officials acknowledged he may already be in Mexico, and possibly on his way back to Asia. ... officers found...

The military contractor known as “Fat Leonard,” the mastermind behind the worst public corruption scandal in U.S. Navy history who was three weeks away from being sentenced in the case, is on the run. Leonard Glenn Francis, who has been under house arrest, cut off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet and absconded from his San Diego home sometime Sunday morning, said Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo. Pretrial Services, the federal agency monitoring Francis, was alerted to an anomaly with Francis’ bracelet, and Francis’ defense team went to check on him, knowing he has a history of health issues. An...

A former Navy captain pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $68,000 in bribes from a foreign contractor. Donald Hornbeck accepted dinners, parties, and sex workers from businessman Leonard Glenn Francis.The "Fat Leonard" bribery scandal has led to the indictment of dozens of military officials.A former Navy captain pleaded guilty to bribery on Wednesday for accepting nearly $68,000 in luxury hotel rooms, dinners, alcohol-fueled parties, and sex workers from a Singapore-based defense contractor.In his plea agreement, Donald Hornbeck, 61, admitted to accepting the gifts from Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, nicknamed "Fat Leonard."In exchange, Hornbeck shared confidential information with Francis and helped...

SAN DIEGO (Tribune Content Agency) — Redacted Navy documents and the command history of Navy Region Southwest Commander Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar indicate she was investigated in connection with the so-called “Fat Leonard” scandal and had received gifts from the contractor in 1998. A female officer on-board the salvage ship Salvor accepted gifts in the form of a hotel room, dinner, drinks, entertainment and a golf outing in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, in August 1998, according to a memo signed by Adm. Philip S. Davidson in July 2017. Although her name was redacted from the documents, Bolivar, a Navy deep sea...

... Francis [Fat Leonard] systematically infiltrated the Blue Ridge ...Francis doled out illicit gifts, hosted epicurean feasts and sponsored sex parties for Blue Ridge personnel...Officers from the Blue Ridge consumed or pocketed about $1 million in gourmet meals, liquor, cash, vacations, airline tickets, tailored suits, Cuban cigars, luxury watches, cases of beef, designer handbags, antique furniture and concert tickets — and reveled in the attention of an armada of prostitutes ... he then prodded his moles on the Blue Ridge to reroute aircraft carriers and other vessels to ports controlled by his firm so he could more easily overcharge the...

Watching the military lately is like watching an Evil Knievel 20 bus jump gone wrong; a Wide World of Sports skier careen into a throng of spectators; an out of control freight train laden with deadly chemicals, ready to derail that no one seems to have the ability to stop. The merde is indeed hitting the ventilateur in the bowels of the Pentagon and across the world at US military bases and on US ships of war. It’s safe to say that in the US military, the thrill of victory is long gone and the agony of defeat is here...

In response to queries from The Post, the Navy recently confirmed that it has been reviewing the conduct of 440 other active-duty and retired personnel — including 60 current and former admirals — for possible violations of military law or federal ethics rules in their dealings with Francis and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia. That is double the number of admirals whom Navy officials said were under investigation last year (The Navy has about 210 admirals on active duty). The caseload has grown as the Justice Department has given the Navy additional dossiers of individuals who did not meet...

The Navy is poised to promote the admiral in charge of its elite SEAL teams and other commando units even though Pentagon investigators determined that he illegally retaliated against staff members whom he mistakenly suspected were whistleblowers. Rear Adm. Brian Losey was investigated five times by the Defense Department's inspector general after subordinates complained that he had wrongly fired, demoted or punished them during a vengeful but fruitless hunt for the person who had anonymously reported him for a minor travel-policy infraction, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. After conducting separate, years-long investigations that involved more than 100...

(WASHINGTON) -- Nine high-ranking U.S. Navy officers, including one former admiral, have been charged with trading classified information in exchange for travel, dinner and prostitution services from a foreign defense contractor -- the latest charges in the widening probe, according to the Justice Department. According to the Justice Department, the Navy officials allegedly took in expensive travel and entertainment expenses as well as prostitution services while steering contracts toward the company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), and blocking its competitors. They allegedly used fake names and foreign email address to keep their actions secret.

This case is unusual as it is rare for an Admiral to even face criminal proceedings Source: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Diego-Navy-Admiral-Guilty-Plea-Navy-Bribery-Scheme-382400401.html#ixzz4B8MhpHYZ Follow us: @nbcsandiego on Twitter | NBCSanDiego on Facebook A rear admiral in the U.S. Navy plead guilty to one felony charge in connection with a multi-million dollar bribery scheme that has led to the arrest or imprisonment of more than a dozen U.S. Navy officers and Pentagon employees. Rear Admiral Robert J. Gilbeau appeared in court Thursday in the downtown San Diego federal courthouse. Gilbeau entered a change of plea to one count of providing false statements to federal investigators and...

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...