On Tuesday, a federal court indicted nine active and retired U.S. Navy members in what is being called the “Fat Leonard” scandal, which involves high-ranking Navy officers accepting bribes in return for classified information. Retired Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless was among the nine individuals accused of partaking in such events such as “a raging multi-day party, with a rotating carousel of prostitutes.”
Loveless and the others were charged with accepting first-class travel, lavish dinners and prostitutes from a Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard” for being overweight, in exchange for classified information. Fat Leonard used the information to help his company: Glenn Defense Marine Asia.
Prosecutors are accusing Fat Leonard of receiving almost $35 million by overcharging the Navy for food, water, fuel and more to supply ships in the Pacific. Fat Leonard was able to beat out competition to supply ships or and able to maneuver ships in the Pacific to charge tariffs with the information obtained by bribing the Navy officers.
“This is a fleecing and betrayal of the United States Navy in epic proportions, and it was allegedly carried out by the Navy’s highest-ranking officers,” acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson said in a statement.
She also stated that “the alleged conduct amounts to a staggering degree of corruption by the most prominent leaders of the Seventh Fleet — the largest fleet in the U.S. Navy — actively worked together as a team to trade secrets for sex, serving the interests of a greedy foreign defense contractor, and not those of their own country.”
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