l Updates: 2-23/04/16; 2022/01/23; 2022/01/14 editing/additions of this page and of the Fat Leo section overall; moved Comments to its own page; moved Articles- Alpha to its own page 2022/01/10-13; 2021/09/18 excess bold cleared; 2020/05/08 Fat Leonard Case divided into two pages because it had grown too long; important article added to Signficance/Start Here section: USNI/US Naval Institute-2019/01/24 2020/05/07 Fat Leonard Case transferred from River Gold to Police Factor; 11/18/2017 Leondro Aragoncillo; 05/14/2017;05/13/2017; 05/12/2017; 05/11/2017; 05/10/2017; 05/09/2017; 05/08/2017; 05/07/2017; 05/06/2017; 05/05/2017; 05/03/2017; 05/02/2017; 05/01/2017
Fat Leo General, Names (MilCrim-8a1)
8a-1-here 8a-2-Brief Names, Ships More Recent Articles 2021+ o Update 2023 o Fat Leonard Escape Sept 2022 o Major Arrests, Trials, Sentences Case still haunts us a few articles 2021-2022 Trials SIGNIFICANCE: Why the Fat Leonard Case is important o Start Here o What is the Fat Leonard Scandal o Significance Security, Safety of Navy and country Damage to reputation - Americans and Navy etc… NAMES BRIEF moved to 8a2 on 4/16/23 RELATED BRIBERY SCANDALS o 2021/10/03 OTHER NAVY SCANDALS o often cited when mentioning Fat Leonard WHISTLEBLOWERS (alleged or actual) o David Schaus SHIPS moved to 8a2 on 4/16/23
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE RECENT ARTICLES Fat Leonard Escape-Sept 2022 onward San Diego Tribune 2023/04/13 Fat Leonard Officer new trial motion https //www sandiegouniontribune com/news/courts/story/2023-04-13/fat-leonard-officer-new-trial-motion Navy Times 2022/12/29 New in 2023: The fate of Fat Leonard By Geoff Ziezulewicz https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/12/29/new-in-2023-the-fate-of-fat-leonard/ USNI News 2022/09/06 New Details Revealed in ‘Fat Leonard’ Escape, Detention as Manhunt Continues. By: Gidget Fuentes September 6, 2022 11:07 PM https://news.usni.org/2022/09/06/new-details-revealed-in-fat-leonard-escape-detention-as-manhunt- continues CNN 2022/09/22 Mastermind of Navy bribery scheme captured in Venezuela after escaping house arrest in San Diego. By Josh Campbell and Mary Kay Mallonee, CNN https //www cnn com/2022/09/22/politics/fat-leonard-venezuela-arrest-navy-bribery/index.html Trial Period, Arrests, Sentences - 2021-2022 MAJOR ARRESTS, TRIALS, SENTENCES, RECENT ARTICLES Articles Recent 2021-2022 (not comprehensive - See Articles Alpha/By Date) Fat Leonard Case Still Haunts USA DOJ-2021/08/31 KPBS dot org 2021/10/14 Navy Bribery Scandal still unfolding 8 years after arrest of Fat Leonard https://www.kpbs.org/news/local/2021/10/14/navy-bribery-scandal-still-unfolding-8-years-after-the-arrest-of-fat- leonard San Diego Union Tribune 2021/12/22 Fat Leonard Podcaster Recordings https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2021-12-22/fat-leonard-podcaster-recordings San Diego Union Tribune 2021/08/31 Former Navy Officer pleads guilty as Fat Leonard Briberty Trial Nears https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2021-08-31/former-navy-officer-pleads-guilty-as-fat- leonard-bribery-trial-nears USNI 2021/09/03 Good Rundown: USNI-2017/03/16 [not from PF: some of its information on the indicted officers was used in the list of names] https://news.usni.org/2017/03/16/timeline-fat-leonard-case TRIALS 2022 Most recent trial has been moved from Nov 2021 to Feb 2022 2021 Aug and Sept: Gorsuch and De Guzman first two to plead guilty August 31 2021 from DOJ news Gorsuch is the first of the Seventh Fleet defendants to plead guilty. The remaining defendants, who are accused of trading military secrets and substantial influence for sex parties with prostitutes, extravagant dinners and luxury travel, are scheduled for trial on November 1, 2021 [trial moved to Feb 2022]. They include U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless; Captains David Newland, James Dolan, Donald Hornbeck and David Lausman; Colonel Enrico DeGuzman; Lt. Commander Stephen Shedd; and Commander Mario Herrera. DeGuzman and Gorsuch are the first two of the so-called “GDMA Nine” – all former 7th Fleet officials indicted and charged together in the case – to plead guilty. Gorsuch admits guilty: Navy Chief Warrant Officer Robert Gorsuch De Guzman admits guilty: retired Marine Corp Colonel-appeared in federal court in San Diego, Calif-in August 2021, agreed to plead guilty to he accepted $67,000 in bribes and helped recruit others into a “cabal” of Navy officials who helped steer and inflate contracts to a Singapore-based defense firm (USNI-2021/09/03) As of Sept 2021 27/34 plead guilty: Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against 34 Navy officials, defense contractors and GDMA officers, and 27 so far have pleaded guilty 2017 March 2017, about 30 admirals under investigation, handful of names gone public March Indictments of Navy Admiral plus 7 officers See Justice dot gov-2017/03/14 Pitts, Bobby R Navy Commander sentenced 2017/11 2016 Sentencing of Misiewicz Former Navy Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khiem Misiewicz More than 6 years in federal prison SIGNIFICANCE Why the Fat Leonard case is Important Start Here “It’s really been pretty devastating to the upper ranks of the Navy... There were bad people here. You gotta catch them. You got to make sure they’re punished. But there were a lot of people that didn’t do anything that got caught up in this.…The sheer volume of Navy personnel exposed to Francis is indicative of how ubiquitous GDMA’s [Glenn Defense Marine Asia run by Fat Leonard] reach was in the Western Pacific from the late 1990s to his 2013 arrest…” from USNI-2019/01/24 (directly below) USNI US Naval Institute 2019/01/24 Paying price hidden cost Fat Leonard investigation. By Sam LaGrone. https://news.usni.org/2019/01/24/paying-price-hidden-cost-fat-leonard-investigation Note: Founded in 1873, the U.S. Naval Institute is the independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write in order to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security Excerpt: The investigation into the web of corruption spun by contractor Leonard Francis has wreaked havoc on the Navy’s ability to fill senior leadership roles, unintentionally stalled hundreds of officers’ careers and thinned out the service’s flag ranks, USNI News has learned…The six-year-long Department of Justice-led probe into the “Fat Leonard” scandal has resulted in 33 federal indictments, 22 guilty pleas and Francis admitting to authorities that his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, had overbilled the Navy by $35 million to support port visits by U.S. warships…The sheer volume of Navy personnel exposed to Francis is indicative of how ubiquitous GDMA’s reach was in the Western Pacific from the late 1990s to his 2013 arrest. The Japan- based U.S. 7th Fleet relied heavily on GDMA to carve out places where U.S. warships could make port calls as Washington wrestled with Beijing for influence in the South China Sea, several officers who served in 7th Fleet have told USNI News. https://news.usni.org/2019/01/24/paying-price-hidden-cost-fat-leonard-investigation Navy Matters Blog Spot Even more disturbing than the violations and the number of people fired or charged with crimes is that none of these people were called out by their peers. Do you really think that all these hundreds of people were able to conduct their misdeeds in utter secrecy from those who worked closely with them on a day to day basis some of the misdeeds covering years? Of course not! Other people knew that wrongs were being committed and those who knew but said nothing are just as guilty of a failure of integrity (if not actual crimes!) as the principals. From Navy Matters Blog Spot (more in Articles below) What is the Fat Leonard Scandal? “At the heart of the scandal was Glenn Defense Marine Asia of Singapore [a subsidiary of Glenn Marine Group], a firm run by Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian national known as Fat Leonard for his 350-pound weight. Francis provided thousands of dollars in cash, travel expenses, luxury items, and prostitutes to a large number of U.S. uniformed officers, who in turn gave him classified material about the movements of U.S. ships and submarines, confidential contracting information, and information about active law enforcement investigations into Glenn Defense Marine Asia.” (Wikipedia) Significance Security In a word: American and western world security. The safety of military personnel on board every craft associated with the scandal. The safety of the intactness of the American presence in southeast Asia. The safety of the continental United States. The sheer vastness of the compromised situation - the zone of influence. Who was involved, how many, links to other significant issues (perhaps 9/11). Fat Leonard Case Worse Than China or Tailhook Scandal: USNI “Several senior officials over the last several months have told USNI News that the damage done to Navy leadership was worse than the aftermath of the 1991 Tailhook convention scandal. “I think it is worse. I think it’s very secretive,” a retired flag officer told USNI News. “At least with Tailhook, people knew that if they went to Tailhook they were being looked at. Right now, as far as anyone knows, if you ever went west of Hawaii, you’re being looked at. As far as anyone knows, but no one really knows.” Last year, a senior U.S. Pacific Command staffer told a room of Australians, when asked about the ongoing case, “China could never have dreamt up a way to do this much damage to the U.S. Navy’s Pacific leadership.” https://news.usni.org/2019/01/24/paying-price-hidden-cost-fat-leonard-investigation These Leaders are Supposed to Lead Troops Through Combat 2017/04 Navy Matters Blog Spot The real point is that the Navy is clearly systemically integrity-challenged and yet, if we go to war tomorrow, these are the very people who will be leading us in combat. Do we really want these kinds of people to be our combat leaders? https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2017/04/integrity.html WHISTLEBLOWERS) alleged or actual Questioners of Over-billing or other issues Schaus, David. A junior officer assigned to the Navy’s Ship Support Office in Hong Kong, became livid after receiving a huge invoice from Glenn Defense in 2004. Schaus said it charged the Navy for pumping 100,000 gallons of sewage from a destroyer that spent four days in port — an impossible amount, because the ship’s tanks held just 12,000 gallons and were serviced only once a day. Schaus told The Post that he summoned Francis for an explanation. “He became furious, accusing me of calling him a liar. And I told him, ‘I am calling you a liar.’ He said, ‘Lieutenants don’t tell me what to do. Do you know who I am?’ He was being profane and banging on the table.” Afterward, Schaus said he was told by other Navy officials to back off, something that he said invariably happened when he raised questions about Glenn Defense.The company “was rotten from the first day I worked with them in 2004, and everyone knew they were rotten,” Schaus said. “Everyone knew what was going on, and it was just accepted as the way it was. If you tried to rock the boat, you got squashed.” (See Washington Post, 05/27/2016 below). Linked In 2016/09/01 The US Navy Supply Corps is morally bankrupt. By David Schaus https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/us-navy-supply-corps-morally-bankrupt-david-schaus RELATED BRIBERY SCANDALS Washington Post 2021/10/03 Navy Bribery Scandal https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/navy-bribery-scandal/2021/10/03/d5181302-245e-11ec-8d53- 67cfb452aa60_story.html RELATED OR SIMILAR NAVY CORRUPTION Contracting Scheme 1.6 million for homemade silencers that cost $8k to make Washington Post 2014/01/15 Navy’s second ranking civilian resigns amid criminal investigation. By Craig Whitlock. Excerpt: In that case, three senior Navy intelligence officials who reported to Martinage are under investigation for an alleged contracting scheme that charged the military $1.6 million for homemade silencers that cost only $8,000 to manufacture, court records show. Involves Mark S. Landersman mechanic (brother of one of the Navy intelligence officials under scrutiny) and others. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/navys-second-ranking-civilian-resigns-amid- criminal-investigation/2014/01/15/9305ece2-7df8-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html?utm_term=.a7aad05e9f64 Navy civilian’s affair uncovered during contracting probe Stripes https://www.stripes.com/top-navy-civilian-s-affair-uncovered-during-contracting-probe- 1.262521#.WRXQpGjyvZY Tailhook Wikipedia: Tailhook Scandal: Macho culture which belittles women https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailhook_scandal New York Times: Revisiting the Military’s Tailhook Scandal. Michael Winerip. (05/13/2013) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/booming/revisiting-the-militarys-tailhook-scandal-video.htm
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