14 September 2022

Fat Leonard


Fat Leonard is the worst U.S. Navy scandal since Tailhook.  And while Tailhook was about sex – not sex, per se, but the toxic fratboy, locker-room culture of carrier aviation – Fat Leonard is about greed, with a side order of espionage, and general embarrassment all around.

Leonard Francis headed up Glenn Marine, a Singapore-based maritime services contractor.  Over a period beginning roughly in 2006 (but probably earlier) and lasting until Leonard’s arrest in 2013, Glenn Marine and its subsidiaries provided port security and other infrastructure support to the U.S. Seventh Fleet.  During that time, NCIS, the Navy’s criminal investigators, opened twenty-seven separate inquiries into Glenn Marine, and then closed every single one, without result.  It’s probably impossible to calculate how many millions DoD and the Navy got burned for. 

The fraudulent billing, and the ongoing security failure, continued for all those years because Leonard and his team infiltrated and compromised Navy chain of command.  Defense industry procurement is ripe for abuse.  No-bid contracts are common.  Leonard bribed admirals.  Cash, travel, luxury gifts, escort services.  What he got in return was inside information about ship deployments and naval maneuvers, much of it classified.  He was able to redirect Navy vessels to ports controlled by Glenn Marine, and overbilled for fuel, food, water, and sewage removal.  

To date, five naval personnel have been court-martialed, and twenty-eight have pled guilty in federal court.  This number includes eleven admirals, thirteen captains, a Marine Corps colonel and an NCIS special agent, and a few hapless lower ranks.  Logistics, operations, systems, supply, the entire food chain.  The point being that it wasn’t just money leaking through the cracks.  These guys gave away the U.S. defense posture in the Pacific - the Order of Battle, generally – but more specifically, ship positions and readiness, an enormous intelligence advantage to any potential adversary. 

Now, whether Leonard was or is under the discipline of Chinese state security is speculation, but information is currency.  Leonard was lining his pockets, and maybe saving for a rainy day.   

Leonard had been in custody in San Diego, awaiting sentencing.  He was under house arrest and wearing an ankle monitor.  He was subject to round-the-clock surveillance.  A week ago Sunday, he discarded his ankle monitor and slipped away.  He was missing for seven hours before the U.S. Marshals Service was alerted.  Not to belabor the obvious, but San Diego is a forty-minute drive from Mexico.  You do the math.  Fat Leonard’s in the wind.

5 comments:

  1. Wow - that's one that slipped under my radar. Sounds like someone on the surveillance team got a taste of the action. Keep us posted if you hear any more, David.

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  2. I left some of this unsaid, Eve, because so much is still uncertain or being kept under wraps, but I don't think this is just about sticky fingers; I smell treason. Leonard could have sold privileged information to China, or they could have easily penetrated his organization, and the U.S. military personnel Leonard compromised turned a blind eye to that possibility. If I were Chinese military intelligence, I'd fit Leonard with a pair of cement shoes: alive and in custody, he's got too many tales to tell.

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  3. David, I vaguely remember long ago hearing of a breaking scandal, and then nothing else. What a mess now. And 11 admirals? Unbelievable.

    When you mention 13 captains, are we talking the rank of captain or ships' masters?

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    Replies
    1. Actual rank of captain; also a couple of commanders and lt. commanders, but the higher ranks seem to have done the most damage.

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    2. Pretty amazing and embarrassing for such high level command personnel. It sounds like there’s a great follow up story if Fat Leonard ever pops up…and I’m sure he will.

      Delete

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