The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced on Monday that retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke, who previously served as the second-highest ranking officer in the U.S. Navy, was convicted of bribery.
In a Monday press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said that the 62-year-old retired four-star admiral “was found guilty of bribery today in connection with accepting future employment at a government vendor in exchange for awarding that company a government contract.”
According to the press release, Burke was convicted after a five-day trial by a federal jury on charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, concealing material facts from the United States, and performing acts affecting a personal financial interest.
Monday’s press release noted that the four-star admiral oversaw U.S. naval operations in Russia, Europe, and the majority of Africa from 2020 to 2022. Burke was accused of directing the U.S. military to award major contracts to an unnamed training company in exchange for receiving a job by which he could make $500,000 per year after retiring from the Navy.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, identified as co-CEOs of the unnamed training company, met with Burke in July of 2021 and “agreed that Burke would use his position as a Navy Admiral to steer a contract to Company A in exchange for future employment at the company,” according to the press release.
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“They further agreed that Burke would use his official position to influence other Navy officers to award another contract to Company A to train a large portion of the Navy with a value one of the co-defendants allegedly estimated to be ‘triple digit millions,'” the press release added.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia claimed that Burke ordered his staff to award the company a $355,000 contract to train military personnel under the admiral’s command in Spain and Italy and that he also tried to convince another Navy admiral to award a contract to the company.
According to Fox News, Burke’s conviction makes him the highest-ranking member of the U.S. military to be convicted of committing a federal crime while on active duty.
Announcing Burke’s conviction in a post on X, formerly Twitter, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro wrote, “When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent. Our office, with our law enforcement partners, will root out corruption – be it bribes or illegal contracts – and hold accountable the perpetrators, no matter what title or rank they hold.”
