Ex-US Navy commander gets 30 months in prison for accepting ‘Fat Leonard’ bribes
- ‘As decorated as you were, it’s hard to fathom why you’d sell out for so little’ judge tells Troy Amundson, who swapped information for sex with prostitutes
In an email arranging to hand over US Navy information to flamboyant contractor Leonard Francis, Navy Commander Troy Amundson described himself as “a small dog just trying to get a bone”.
Later that night, Francis organised several prostitutes from Mongolia for Amundson, prosecutors say, just one in a string of bribes Francis paid for leaked military data.
On Friday, Amundson was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He joins the ranks of more than a dozen other US Navy officials whose military service is now tarnished with felony records for getting cosy with Francis in what has become the worst corruption scandal to hit the navy in decades.
Amundson, a decorated combat pilot, told the judge that he did not realise what he was doing was illegal. The schedules of port visits in Southeast Asia he gave Francis were not classified and were regularly given to contractors, his lawyers said.
But the judge disagreed, pointing to the secrecy with which Amundson operated.