Retired U.S. Navy Captain Becomes Latest Officer To Admit Taking Bribes And Prostitutes From ‘Fat Leonard’

Craig Whitlock at the Washington Post offers a piece on the latest U.S. naval officer to plead guilty in the massive Navy "Fat Leonard" bribery and fraud scandal.

A retired Navy captain who also served as the U.S. naval attache in the Philippines pleaded guilty to corruption in federal court Tuesday, admitting that he secretly worked as an agent for an Asian defense contractor in exchange for gifts, travel and the services of prostitutes.

Michael George Brooks, 57, of Fairfax Station, Va., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Diego to a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery. He faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In his plea agreement, Brooks acknowledged that he and his family members accepted fine wines, hotel rooms, electronics, luxury watches and prostitutes on dozens of occasions from Leonard Glenn Francis, a Singapore-based contractor known as “Fat Leonard” in Navy circles. Francis’s firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, held contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to resupply and refuel U.S. Navy ships at ports throughout Asia.

Francis pleaded guilty to bribery charges last year in the case, which has erupted into the worst corruption case in the history of the Navy. Seventeen people have been charged with crimes in federal court, including an admiral and eight other officers. Another defendant has been charged in Singapore. About two thirds of those facing charges have pleaded guilty.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/11/15/retired-navy-captain-becomes-latest-officer-to-admit-taking-bribes-and-prostitutes-from-fat-leonard/?wpisrc=nl_check&wpmm=1