A corrupt Malaysian military contractor nicknamed ‘Fat Leonard’ has requested asylum in Venezuela after fleeing the US while under house arrest three weeks before his sentencing for bribing Navy officers with cash and prostitutes.
Leonard Glenn Francis fled and his company overcharged the U.S. military by more than $35 million for its services and plied officers with various gifts, who then redirected military vessels to ports that were lucrative for his Singapore-based ship servicing company.
Francis was arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering bribes. He then flipped after his arrest and agreed to testify against the Navy as part of a sweeping prosecution by the Department of Justice’s that remains ongoing; seven Navy officers are still awaiting trial and Francis is the star witness.
Francis sheared off his GPS ankle bracelet on September 4 after being under house arrest in San Diego.
The crooked contractor ensured his escape by housing court-appointed security guards in windowless garages, keeping no visitor logs and allowed no night patrols.
Court filings show Francis most recently resided in a $7,000-a-month, five-bedroom, seven-bath home in a gated community before he fled.
When officers arrived at the home, it was completely emptied out – apart from the discarded GPS monitor. Neighbors witnessed U-Haul moving trucks coming to and from Francis’ home in the days before his escape.
The US, which has an extradition treaty with Venezuela, now has 30 days to formally request Francis’ extradition, though the Biden administration does not formally recognize President Nicolas Maduro’s government or have an embassy there.
‘Fat Leonard’, aka Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian businessman who infiltrated the US Navy in Manila and blackmailed officers into giving him favors and shipping routes, is now on the run after cutting off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet over the weekend,
A picture showing a disheveled Francis after he was caught attempting to flee to Russia was released by Interpol Venezuela
An undated photo provided by the U.S. Marshals Service shows Leonard Francis before he fled from home confinement in San Diego
Francis is shown with Rear Admiral Bolivar, who was investigated as part of the scandal
The Biden administration does not formally recognize President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Venezuela or have an embassy there, raising questions around Francis’ extradition
Former security guards and employees for Francis revealed to The Washington Post the lavish lifestyle he continued to live and said he ordered mountains of Amazon packages and relied on servants to feed him excessively.
‘He had packages coming from Amazon all day long. He had so much deliveries happening every single day. Every morning I would show back up at the garage and there would just be boxes in there,’ said security guard Anthony Galvan.
‘The servants really served him. They bathed all of his kids. They fed them 24-7,’ said another guard.
Pretrial Services employees repeatedly made unannounced visits to check on Francis, but according to Galvan, he always seemed to know when he’d be checked on.
‘Me, personally, I feel like he knew when they were coming,’ Galvan said. ‘I don’t know how, but he would always text me, “So and so is here.” He would always text me a minute or two before they were here.’
Officers entered the multi-million dollar five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home only to find the entire place had been emptied apart from the sheared off GPS bracelet he had left behind.
He was certainly helped by the fact that nobody physically checked on him until six hours after his GPS ankle bracelet registered a problem, and only tried to reach him with calls and texts.
When a member of the defense team did enter the home on September 4, they found it mostly empty, and San Diego Police later showed up and found Francis’ GPS ankle bracelet in a portable cooler with some water in it.
Francis then fled to Mexico before moving on to Cuba, and then turned up in Venezuela and was arrested at Caracas airport on September 20 as he tried to board a flight to Russia.
It remains to be seen whether Venezuelan President Maduro, pictured here, will block Francis’ extradition in a move against Biden’s government for the harsh sanctions they set
Senior Navy officials pictured at a party Francis says he threw for them in his unofficial role
Interpol’s Venezuela director general, Carlos Gárate Rondón, indicated Francis would be handed over to judicial authorities to begin the extradition process.
The date of his sentencing had been put off for years as he continued to assist prosecutors. He was preparing to appear on the witness stand in a trial earlier this year to testify against five former naval officers, but he was never called.
Four of the officers were convicted while the jury was deadlocked on a fifth.
‘Obviously it’s very disappointing,’ San Diego attorney Michael Crowley, who defended one of the former officers said to the Tribune upon hearing of Francis’ escape.
‘He started all this and we wanted him to testify since this was the crux of the government’s case. Here, they’ve let him slip right through their fingers.’
Last year, he boasted in a podcast about plying admirals with booze and prostitutes, and the sweet informant deal he struck with the US government.
‘Everybody was in my pocket. I had them rolling around in my palm. I had the Navy by their balls. I turned my torpedo, my guns against them, because they betrayed me,’ Francis says in one episode of a nine-part series.
He also revealed that the government had arranged for visas for his whole family, saying: ‘Everybody came legally. Uncle Sam knows, everybody knows what I’m doing. My children are my children.
‘My wellbeing is more important than anyone else… I am their star witness,’ Francis said.
In one episode of the podcast, he spoke proudly about going after Michael Misiewicz, a commander who he supplied with prostitutes in Tokyo in exchange for secret shipping routes to Australia.
‘Misciewicz had value, you know, he was like the number two guy in the scheduling department.
‘If you look at him, he’s actually a really nice guy, very gentle personality, friendly, great dad to his kids, womanizer…’ Francis said, adding that his number two – New Yorker Edmond Aruffo – ’embedded’ him.
Leonard Glenn Francis aka Fat Leonard even purchased a decommissioned British warship, renamed it the Glenn Braveheart (pictured), and occasionally turned it into a giant party boat
Fat Leonard, aka Leonard Glenn Francis, on his warship – the USS Braveheart – which he bought. He is obsessed with American culture and speaks with an American accent, despite never having lived in the US at the time
The Braveheart, Fat Leonard’s warship, which he bought in 2003, was used as a ‘floating brothel’, according to some of those interviewed as part of the investigation
‘They wanted to have the good life that they could not have. They wanted the fine dining, the fine gifts, hotel rooms, sedans, luxury cars, watches, handbags, fancy meals, alcohol, cigars,’ he said.
Francis had infiltrated Misiewicz’s family and friends while he was working on the USS Blue Ridge out of Manila in 2011.
He gave him and his family tickets to the Lion King in Tokyo, bought his wife Marcy a Gucci handbag when she became suspicious of him, and arranged for Michael to sleep with prostitutes in Tokyo on a regular basis.
The scheme came crashing down in 2013 after Marcy Misiewicz, Michael’s wife, suspected he was cheating on her and confronted him. He struck her and she reported it to the NCIS, which started filtering through Michael’s emails.
Among them were exchanges with Francis, where Michael had supplied secret shipping routes to Australia.
Francis, who had a spy in the NCIS, found out and tried to placate her but he was eventually arrested, along with Misiewicz, who was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Francis also suggested that some of the most senior admirals he corrupted were being protected by the Navy, a claim that is bolstered by the fact that some were disciplined in military courts, whereas others were pursued by the Department of Justice.
‘Some of the more senior admirals got handled by the Navy because then they can be brushed under the carpet, it’s little more than a slap on the wrist, they call it ‘different spanks for different ranks’.
‘If you’re an admiral you don’t get punished to the same degree as if you’re junior,’ Wright said.
The case has resulted in federal criminal charges against 34 Navy officials, defense contractors, including Francis, and the Glenn Defense Marine Asia corporation.
So far, 26 of those have pleaded guilty and many have been sentenced to several years in prison.
U.S. Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek, center, handed over classified ship schedules and steered aircraft carriers to revenue ports controlled by Glenn Defense in return for prostitutes, alcohol and stays at luxury hotels
Navy Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau (left) was sentenced to 18 months in prison and Commander Michael Misiewicz (right) was sentenced to six years
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