Explainer | Who is Malaysia’s ‘Fat Leonard’ and how did the US navy bribery scandal convict escape?

Investigators say defence contractor Leonard Francis bilked the navy out of more than $35 million by buying off officers with sex parties and luxury gifts

He cut off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet with heavy scissors and fled from his San Diego home, three weeks before his sentencing hearing

Reading Time:3 minutes

Prosecutors say Leonard Francis bilked the navy out of at least US$35 million. File photo: Handout

Published: 9:18am, 8 Sep 2022Updated: 9:37am, 8 Sep 2022

The big, jovial personality of the Malaysian defence contractor nicknamed “Fat Leonard” got him favours across Asia, where he became rich by wooing US navy commanders with wild sex parties and luxury gifts.

Leonard Francis has admitted to being the mastermind of one of the most extensive bribery scandals in US military history. Now after staging a bold escape executed in broad daylight over the holiday weekend in an upscale suburban San Diego neighbourhood, many are asking if he employed that same charm to get help to disappear. Here is a look at the case and what is known and not known.

Who is ‘Fat Leonard’ and why was he convicted?

Francis owned and operated his family’s ship servicing business, Singapore-based Glenn Defence Marine Asia Ltd. or GDMA, which supplied food, water and fuel to vessels. An enigmatic figure, Francis was a main point of contact for US Navy ships at ports across Asia for more than two decades. He was photographed wining and dining with top Navy brass.

He plied officers with Kobe beef, expensive cigars, concert tickets and wild sex parties at luxury hotels from Thailand to the Philippines. In exchange, officers concealed his company’s overbilling of the US military. After investigators caught on, Francis was lured to San Diego on false pretences and arrested at a hotel in 2013.

He pleaded guilty in 2015, admitting that he had offered more than US$500,000 in cash bribes to navy officials, defence contractors and others who helped his scheme. He used his influence to get commanders to steer their ships mostly from the navy’s 7th Fleet to ports he controlled so he could cover up fake charges. Prosecutors say he bilked the navy out of at least US$35 million.

Why did he not get sentenced yet?

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x