Defense

Top Navy official among eight charged with corruption in salacious bribery case

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The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Tuesday charging eight current and former Navy officials with corruption and other crimes in the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, the Washington Post reported

Charged in the case is Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, a senior Navy intelligence officer based at the Pentagon, several Navy captains and a retired colonel from the Marine Corps. The charges cover a period of eight years, from 2006 through 2014, according to the Post. 

The charged are accused of taking bribes of expensive gifts, prostitutes and luxury hotel stays from Singapore-based defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis. Francis has pleaded guilty to defrauding the Navy.

{mosads}In exchange for hosting sex parties for officers and providing bribes including $25,000 watches, $2,000 boxes of cigars and $2,000 bottles of cognac, the Navy officials allegedly provided Francis with classified or inside information that allowed his firm, Glenn Marine Defense Asia, to take the Navy for tens of millions of dollars, according to federal prosecutors.

One of the more salacious accounts in the indictment describes a port visit by the USS Blue Ridge to Manila in May 2008, during which five of the Navy officers allegedly attended a “raging multi-day party, with a rotating carousel of prostitutes,” at the Shangri-La Hotel. The group allegedly drank the hotel’s entire supply of Dom Perignon champagne and rang up more than $50,000 in expenses, fully covered by Francis, the Post reported.

There are also three retired captains, an active-duty captain, a retired Marine colonel, an active-duty commander, and a retired chief warrant officer charged in the indictment. The Post could not reach anyone for comment.

The indictment brings the total number of people charged with crimes in the investigation to 27. More than 200 people have come under scrutiny in the ongoing case.

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