What’s the skinny on “Fat Leonard,” that 350-pound poster boy for corruption in defense contracting and the centerpiece of one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Navy? Millions in bribes, sex, and prostitution all flowed from Malaysian businessman Francis Leonard to admirals and enlisted men in exchange for contracts to refurbish ships and other lucrative government business.
By the time the dust settled in a corruption spree that ended in 2015, one admiral had gone to prison, eight other admirals were censured, a pack of senior officers was locked up, and 80 admirals fell under suspicion. Over $34 million in bribes were paid to our military to gather intelligence on ship movements and get repair contracts that ranged as high as $200 million annually. He even managed to buy off the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s “agent of the year,” who was assigned to uncover his fraud.
He eventually copped a plea deal that could have netted him 25 years in jail. But, days before his scheduled sentencing in San Diego, “Fat Leonard” decided that 25 years was a long time, perhaps a lifetime since he also has cancer, and it was time to pack up multiple U-Hauls, put his family in the car, cut his ankle bracelet, and skedaddle.
Neighbors observed him packing and moving items over several days, but perhaps the Department of Justice was too busy plotting an FBI swat team raid on a pro-life activist accused of shoving someone on a picket line to notice. And being the master of intrigue and espionage that he is, it appears that Francis Glen Leonard took himself, his family, and all his worldly possessions through our ultra-secure, impregnable Southern border to Mexico. Perhaps fearing extradition, he then decided Venezuela was the place to resettle, and local authorities there picked him up last week.
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Leonard was apprehended under Obama but is now a border-crossing free man under Biden. Perhaps for those in power, there are crooks, spies, and ne’er-do-wells who may be better in the wind than in a cell where they can talk — like Jeffery Epstein. Given the millions he ripped off from the U.S. taxpayers and the damage he did to our national security, you’d think the DOJ would have cared enough to watch him. But this is the Biden DOJ, after all.
So today, meet “Fat Leonard,” asylum seeker, another happy veteran of the Biden justice system and border repatriation plan. Does Fat (or is that body-shaming him?) still have access to some of the money the government was unable to pry back? Will it be enough to oil the palms of that rogue state’s oil-fueled dictatorship? Or is tweaking Uncle Sam’s nose enough to get him the bonus points needed for an extended stay in Hotel Caracas, where he can act as a role model for all the military contractors handling the loosely monitored billions currently flowing into Ukraine?
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