‘Fat Leonard’ will appeal the sentence, the retired Navy captain will ask for the sentence to be reduced

An undated proclamation photo shows Leonard Glenn Francis, known as Fat Leonard, after his capture in Maiquetia, Venezuela. (Interpol Venezuela Instagram account via AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

SAN DIEGO (Tribune News Service) — Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian contractor known as “Fat Leonard” who is at the center of the U.S. Navy’s worst-ever bribery and corruption scandal, will appeal a 15-year prison sentence imposed by a San Diego federal judge, according to documents filed by his lawyer. According to it was imposed at the beginning of this month.

The prison sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino at her Nov. 5 sentencing hearing was more than three years longer than the sentence prosecutors recommended for Francis, who stole at least $35 million from the Navy but also for what prosecutors called “unprecedented” cooperation. In identifying corrupt Navy officers who accepted his bribes. Sammartino also ordered Francis to pay $20 million in damages to the Navy.

As part of plea deals in three cases, Francis gave up his right to appeal his convictions but had 14 days to appeal his sentence. On Tuesday, two weeks after the sentencing hearing, defense attorney Douglas Sprague filed notices of appeal in each of Francis’ cases.

Statements are simple, one-page documents that provide no details about the arguments it will make.

Francis, 60, remains in custody in San Diego, according to online Federal Bureau of Prisons records, but Sammartino recommended he spend the remaining time in custody in a medical prison facility. Accounting for the credit he will receive during his time in custody, Francis is expected to be sentenced to approximately 8.5 more years in prison pending the outcome of his appeal.

Known as “Fat Leonard” for his enormous size, Francis spent decades bribing a group of officers from the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific, who then diverted ships to Southeast Asian ports controlled by Francis and company. , Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Francis then accused the US government of grossly inflating prices for routine services.

Francis was arrested in 2013 in the first of a series of GDMA-related bribery, fraud and corruption cases. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States, and quickly became the government’s key witness, providing what prosecutors described as “unprecedented” cooperation, leading authorities to investigate nearly 1,000 Navy personnel.

At his sentencing hearing this month, Francis also pleaded guilty to the charge related to his escape from house arrest in 2022. Federal sentencing guidelines recommended a sentence of 17½ to nearly 22 years in prison for all his crimes. But largely due to Francis’ cooperation, prosecutors recommended a short prison sentence of 12 years.

Sammartino, who has presided over nearly all of the trials involving Francis and the Navy corruption scandal, said he took into account Francis’ cooperation but called his corruption scheme “insidious” and said the 15-year term was more appropriate.

In a related case, the attorney for retired Navy Capt. David Haas, who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Francis and was recently sentenced to two years in prison, filed a motion Tuesday saying he would seek to have Haas’s felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor. The request stems from prosecutorial misconduct that led to the reduced or dismissed felony convictions of nine other defendants.

Earlier this year, prosecutors promised to review cases related to the Navy corruption scandal in a court hearing to determine whether defendants who have already pleaded guilty and been sentenced should have their charges reduced or dismissed because of prosecution problems.

Haas is the first known defendant to seek such compensation.

Chuck La Bella, who represents Haas, sent an email to prosecutors last month requesting that Haas’s felony conviction be treated as a misdemeanor, according to email correspondence in the court file. Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko responded in part: “Respectfully, I see no real legal concern in his case that warrants relief. “Therefore, we cannot advance or consent to a motion to vacate Mr. Haas’s conviction.”

In the document filed Tuesday, La Bella wrote that Haas will instead file a habeas corpus petition based on prosecutorial misconduct (essentially asking the court to review the validity of his conviction and sentence).

©2024 San Diego Union-Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC