Korean Fat Leonard? Feds probe new US Navy corruption case in Asia

[nitpicker]

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/07/30/korean-fat-leonard-feds-probe-new-us-navy-corruption-case-in-asia/

Korean Fat Leonard? Feds probe new US Navy corruption case in Asia

By: David B. Larter    12 hours ago

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has filed corruption charges against the head of a Busan, Korea,-based husbanding services provider in a case with unmistakable echoes of the Fat Leonard scandal that has rocked the Navy since the investigation was revealed in 2013.

Sung-Yol “David” Kim, head of DK Marine Service, has been charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery, according to documents filed with the Eastern District of Michigan.

The investigation has already netted the former civilian master of the dry cargo ship Charles Drew, a Military Sealift Command ship that operates in the Pacific. James Driver pled guilty July 16 to one count of conspiracy, according to court documents, and is awaiting sentencing.

It’s unclear how deep the alleged fraud ran but it is clear that, DK Marine Services performed extensive work for both Military Sealift Command and US Navy assets, including the carriers Reagan and George Washington, the minesweeper Chief, the destroyer Sterett and numerous other support ships, according to images posted on DK Marine Service’s website.
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The Kim indictment seems to outline a somewhat lower-level scam. The indictment alleges that the DK Marine executive gave Driver, at various times, high-speed rail tickets to visit an unnamed associate in a Korean hospital, a hotel room for him and his family, promises of a job in exchange for classified ship schedules, competitors’ pricing information and other information. Driver used his personal email to communicate with Kim to avoid scrutiny, DoJ alleges.

But investigators also seem to be circling around the former director of operations for MSC’s Busan hub, who is labeled as a co-conspirator but is unnamed in Kim’s indictment. Labeled “co-conspirator 1,” the unnamed operations director of Military Sealift Command Office Busan worked for eight years in the office between 2006 and 2014.

In Driver’s indictment, “co-conspirator 1” is described as being “responsible for directing all aspects of MSC ships’ arrival, logistics support, and departure from port.”
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[safeinOhio]

1. Over $700 billion for military budget...

What if we just added $70 million on independent auditors to keep an eye on the money. Between waste, scams and pork, I think that might save us at least a quarter or more of that budget.