Defense Contractor Fat Leonard Lures Naval Officers Into Selling Out America With Hookers, Cash And Tickets To A Lady Gaga Concert

Fat Leonard (in the middle) is in jail in San Diego awaiting trial

Yesterday we lamented at the lack of accountability in high places for high crimes. Grayson talked about how Wall Street is still ignoring the law today because no one was punched for their criminal behavior leading up to the 2008 crash and Recession. And we pointed out how the Cheney gang had gotten away with all their depraved activities in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Does that impact society on lower levels than the White House? You bet it does!

Although it hasn't gotten much attention, there's been a huge bribery scandal brewing in the Navy. The flag-rank officers involved could all get the death penalty-- which would discourage this kind of behavior in the future-- but will they? Sute they will… on the same day Cheney and Addington are locked away in high security prison cells for their crimes. This story seems to have been buried pretty deep so far:

Two U.S. admirals-- including the director of naval intelligence-- are under investigation as part of a major bribery scandal involving a foreign defense contractor, Navy officials announced Friday night.

Vice Adm. Ted “Twig” Branch, the service’s top intelligence officer, and Rear Adm. Bruce F. Loveless, the Navy’s director of intelligence operations, were placed on leave Friday, and their access to classified material was suspended, the Navy said in a statement.

Both admirals are being investigated for their ties to a Singapore-based defense contractor, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, whose chief executive was arrested in September on charges that he bribed other Navy officers into giving him classified or privileged information in exchange for prostitutes and cash.

Two Navy commanders and a senior Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent have already been arrested, and a captain was relieved of his ship’s command last month in connection with the case.

…Navy officials said they were bracing for even more bad news to emerge from a corruption case that has expanded swiftly since it became public in September. “We do believe that other naval officers will likely be implicated in this scandal,” Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Navy’s chief spokesman, said in a telephone interview.

…The suspension of two senior intelligence officials raises serious questions about whether national security may have been compromised because of improper contact between Navy officers and Glenn Defense Marine.

Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego have charged the two Navy commanders with passing classified information about ship and submarine movements to Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian national and the chief executive of Glenn Defense Marine.

Navy contracting officials raised suspicions about Francis-- who is known as “Fat Leonard” in Navy circles because of his imposing girth-- as far back as 2005. But prosecutors allege he was able to dodge scrutiny by bribing Navy officers and the NCIS agent for inside information about law enforcement probes and contract audits.

To recruit the moles, Francis plied the officers with female escorts, cash, paid travel and other perks, including tickets to a Lady Gaga concert in Thailand and a performance of “The Lion King” in Japan, according to court records.

Glenn Defense Marine has serviced and supplied Navy ships and submarines at ports around the Pacific for a quarter-century, providing fuel, tugboats, sewage disposal, wharfside security and other assistance.

Francis and his company were familiar faces to Navy brass, including the commanders of most vessels in the Pacific. The company was rewarded in 2011 with new contracts valued up to $200 million.

Prosecutors, however, allege that the firm routinely overbilled for everything from tugboats to fuel to sewage disposal, defrauding the Navy of more than $10 million.

Francis sought inside information on ship deployments and pressed at least one commander to steer aircraft carriers and other vessels to ports where his firm could easily overcharge the Navy for services, court documents allege.

Earlier Friday, Francis and one of the Navy commanders charged in the case, Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, appeared in federal court in San Diego for a procedural hearing. Misiewicz had been a rising star in the Navy; he escaped Cambodia’s “killing fields” as a child, then made a triumphant return to the country decades later as the skipper of a U.S. destroyer.

...Francis is being held without bond because prosecutors have argued that, as a Malaysian citizen, he poses a flight risk. He was arrested in San Diego in September after investigators lured him to the United States in a sting operation. His attorney and a spokeswoman for Glenn Defense Marine have declined to comment on the allegations against him.

Another Glenn Defense Marine executive, Alex Wisidagama of Singapore, was arrested at the same time in San Diego and also faces bribery charges.

The second Navy commander, Jose Luis Sanchez, was arrested Wednesday in Tampa on charges that he gave classified information to Glenn Defense Marine in exchange for prostitutes and more than $100,000 in cash. Sanchez is a former senior logistics officer for the Navy’s 7th Fleet in Japan.

Charging documents show that Francis enjoyed a cozy and familiar relationship with the two commanders and the NCIS agent, referring to them as “bro” or “brudda” in e-mails and sending them photos of call girls he was planning to set them up with.

…The U.S. military has never been immune from contracting scandals, but it is extremely rare for senior uniformed commanders to face fraud or corruption charges.