‘Fat Leonard’, Malaysian fugitive involved in massive US Navy bribery case caught in Venezuela
- International manhunt for Leonard Glenn Francis ended with his arrest by Venezuelan authorities on Tuesday morning at the Caracas airport
- He bilked the navy out of more than US$35 million, and was under home arrest in San Diego when he cut off his ankle bracelet and escaped September 4
The international manhunt for Leonard Glenn Francis ended with his arrest by Venezuelan authorities on Tuesday morning at the Caracas airport as he was about to board an aeroplane for another country, the US Marshals Service said.
The arrest came on the eve of his scheduled sentencing in a federal court in California for a bribery scheme that lasted more than a decade and involved dozens of US Navy officers.
Francis was under home arrest in San Diego when he cut off his GPS ankle bracelet and escaped on September 4. Ten US agencies searched for Francis and authorities issued a US$40,000 reward for his arrest.
Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering prostitution services, luxury hotels, cigars, gourmet meals and more than US$500,000 in bribes to Navy officials and others to help his Singapore-based ship servicing company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. or GDMA. Prosecutors said the company overcharged the Navy by at least US$35 million for servicing ships, many of which were routed to ports he controlled in the Pacific.