The US Marshals Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) are offering a reward of up to $40,000 ($20,000 each) for information that will lead to the arrest of a Malaysian defense contractor involved in one of the largest bribery scandals in US military history.
Leonard Glenn Francis, who had pleaded guilty in a $35m bribery case involving US Navy officials, went on the run earlier this month after cutting off a GPS monitor attached to his ankle on September 4, 2022, ahead of sentencing.
Francis, popularly known as “Fat Leonard”, was scheduled to be sentenced in late September after pleading guilty in 2015 to his role in the bribery case involving senior US Navy officials.
The US Marshals Service said in a wanted notice that it tweeted on Saturday that the United States law enforcement agencies are now offering the $40,000 reward for information directly assisting in the apprehension of the Malaysian contractor.
If apprehended, Francis is facing up to 25 years in prison.
Prosecutors had so far secured the convictions of 33 of 34 defendants – including more than two dozen US Navy officers, with the help of Francis, who had been allowed to remain in home confinement to receive medical care.
According to his neighbors’ testimonies to the police, days before he disappeared, they had observed U-Haul trucks coming and going from the contractor’s home in San Diego.
Back in 2015, Fat Leonard pleaded guilty to offering bribes to US Navy officials in prostitution services, luxury travel and hotels, lavish meals, and more than $500,000 cash.
They, in return, helped him secure lucrative US naval contracts for his Singapore-based ship servicing company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. or GDMA, which, according to prosecutors, overcharged the navy by at least $35m for servicing US ships.
Francis, which is wanted by ten US agencies, may already be in Mexico and possibly on his way back to Asia so the authorities have issued a red notice which asks law enforcement worldwide to provisionally arrest Francis with the possibility of extradition.
Be the first to comment