Malaysia’s ‘Fat Leonard’ escapes house arrest in US weeks before sentencing in US$35 million bribery scandal

Malaysian national Leonard Glenn Francis, widely known as ‘Fat Leonard’, pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing US Navy officers

Prosecutors said he plied them with cash, gourmet food and sex parties to steer official work towards his military contracting company in Singapore

Reading Time:2 minutes

Malaysian national Leonard Glenn Francis, widely known as ‘Fat Leonard’, pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing US Navy officers. Photo: Handout

Published: 2:32pm, 6 Sep 2022Updated: 2:34pm, 6 Sep 2022

A Malaysian businessman at the centre of a major US Navy bribery scandal has escaped house arrest ahead of his impending sentencing by cutting off his monitoring anklet.

“Leonard Francis cut off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet Sunday morning,” Supervisory Deputy US Marshal Omar Castillo said in a statement on Monday local time.

Leonard Glenn Francis, widely known as “Fat Leonard”, is a Malaysian national who ran a military contracting company out of Singapore called Glenn Defense Marine Asia. He was due to be sentenced in three weeks, US media said.

Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering some US$500,000 in bribes to US Navy officers to steer official work to his shipyards, carrying out work on US vessels that prosecutors say he overcharged the navy for, to the tune of US$35 million.

Prosecutors said that in exchange for contracts Francis plied navy officers with cash, gourmet food, expensive cigars, rare cognac and wild sex parties in fancy hotels.

Police were sent to his San Diego residence on Sunday after the agency monitoring his ankle bracelet reported a problem with the device, Castillo said.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x