Former U.S. Navy admiral sentenced to 18 months in bribery scandal

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. | Wed May 17, 2017 | 7:27pm EDT

Former U.S. Navy admiral sentenced to 18 months in bribery scandal

By Bernie Woodall

A former U.S. Navy admiral at the center of a massive bribery scandal was sentenced on Wednesday to 18 months in prison for choosing "karaoke over character," U.S. prosecutors said.

Former U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau, 56, of San Diego, pleaded guilty last year to lying when he told federal agents he had not received gifts from Malaysian businessman Leonard Francis, the owner of a Singapore-based defense contractor.

Gilbeau, who became the first active-duty admiral ever convicted of a federal crime, was subsequently demoted to captain.

Gilbeau's case is part of a long-running criminal probe known as the Fat Leonard case, in reference to a nickname for Francis.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-navy-corruption-idUSKCN18D2YU

[nitpicker]

1. From the DoJ PR

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/us-navy-admiral-sentenced-lying-feds-about-his-relationship-foreign-defense-contractor

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The first active-duty U.S. Navy Admiral ever convicted of a federal crime was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for lying to investigators to conceal his illicit 20-year relationship with Leonard Glenn Francis, the foreign defense contractor at the center of a colossal bribery and fraud scandal. U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements on June 9, 2016, admitting that he lied when he told federal agents that he had never received any gifts from Francis, owner of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia. The company provided ship husbanding services such as trash and sewage removal, food, water, security and fuel to U.S. Navy ships.

According to the government’s sentencing memo, Gilbeau did indeed receive many expensive gifts plus cash from Francis since 1997. The long history between the two men involved many late nights of partying at nightclubs and karaoke bars, fine dining, luxury hotels and prostitutes – all paid for by Francis. For his part, Gilbeau signed off on inflated GDMA invoices which grossly overbilled the Navy.

When the massive corruption and fraud were discovered, Gilbeau repeatedly lied to investigators from Defense Criminal Investigative Service and Naval Criminal Investigative Service about his relationship with Francis. When Gilbeau became aware that Francis and others had been arrested in connection with the fraud and bribery offenses in September 2013, Gilbeau destroyed documents and deleted computer files. And he continued to lie.
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According to the sentencing memo, things started to unravel for Gilbeau in September 2012, when he became aware that Francis and GDMA were under investigation by NCIS for various fraud and public corruption offenses.
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