Malaysian ‘Fat Leonard’ on the run after escape from US house arrest
www.freemalaysiatoday.com
Leonard Glenn Francis was found guilty of bribing US Navy officials for their influence and access to military intelligence, allowing him to earn millions of dollars from navy contracts. (YouTube pic)
PETALING JAYA: A former Malaysian businessman convicted in one of the US Navy’s largest bribery schemes is on the run after having escaped house arrest.
CBS8 reported a US marshal as saying that Leonard Glenn Francis, a Penangite who is also known as Fat Leonard, was found to have cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet yesterday morning.
San Diego police were asked to perform a welfare check on Francis, but when they arrived at his house, he was not there.
Francis, who ran a military contracting firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, from Singapore, was arrested in San Diego in 2013 as part of a federal operation.
His company serviced visiting US Navy ships in ports that he controlled across Southeast Asia. He was found guilty of bribing US Navy officials for their influence and access to military intelligence, allowing him to earn millions of dollars from navy contracts.
He pleaded guilty in 2015 to his charges, including swindling the navy out of at least US$35 million in overcharges, and was subsequently incarcerated.
Later, in 2018, he was released from prison to serve house arrest following several bouts of health issues, including kidney cancer. He has been under the supervision of Pretrial Services, a US federal agency that monitors defendants who are out of custody until sentencing.
Francis then worked as a cooperating witness for federal prosecutors who continued to build cases against several others involved in the scheme, including high-ranking naval officers.
According to reports, due to this cooperation, his sentencing date had been put off for years as he assisted prosecutors and prepared for what was expected to be his star turn on the witness stand in the trial earlier this year against five former naval officers.
Francis, however, was never called to the stand, while four of the officers were convicted, and the jury deadlocked on charges against the fifth. Twenty-nine others, including navy officials, defence contractors, Francis and his corporation, have pleaded guilty.
Francis’ escape comes a little less than three weeks before his sentencing, set for Sept 22.
www.freemalaysiatoday.com
PETALING JAYA: A former Malaysian businessman convicted in one of the US Navy’s largest bribery schemes is on the run after having escaped house arrest.
CBS8 reported a US marshal as saying that Leonard Glenn Francis, a Penangite who is also known as Fat Leonard, was found to have cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet yesterday morning.
San Diego police were asked to perform a welfare check on Francis, but when they arrived at his house, he was not there.
Francis, who ran a military contracting firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, from Singapore, was arrested in San Diego in 2013 as part of a federal operation.
His company serviced visiting US Navy ships in ports that he controlled across Southeast Asia. He was found guilty of bribing US Navy officials for their influence and access to military intelligence, allowing him to earn millions of dollars from navy contracts.
He pleaded guilty in 2015 to his charges, including swindling the navy out of at least US$35 million in overcharges, and was subsequently incarcerated.
Later, in 2018, he was released from prison to serve house arrest following several bouts of health issues, including kidney cancer. He has been under the supervision of Pretrial Services, a US federal agency that monitors defendants who are out of custody until sentencing.
Francis then worked as a cooperating witness for federal prosecutors who continued to build cases against several others involved in the scheme, including high-ranking naval officers.
According to reports, due to this cooperation, his sentencing date had been put off for years as he assisted prosecutors and prepared for what was expected to be his star turn on the witness stand in the trial earlier this year against five former naval officers.
Francis, however, was never called to the stand, while four of the officers were convicted, and the jury deadlocked on charges against the fifth. Twenty-nine others, including navy officials, defence contractors, Francis and his corporation, have pleaded guilty.
Francis’ escape comes a little less than three weeks before his sentencing, set for Sept 22.
