Navy Officer Pleads Guilty in Expanding Bribery and Fraud Investigation
Sixteen people have been charged in the investigation.
By Jaspreet Kaur ••
A U.S. Navy lieutenant commander has pleaded guilty to accepting cash, luxury hotels and prostitutes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, "Fat Leonard," in exchange for proprietary Navy information, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Lt. Cmdr. Gentry Debord pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery Thursday before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino. He was charged in the multi-million dollar Navy bribary case in May.
NBC 7 has been following this investigation since September 2013.
Leonard Francis moved Navy vessels like chess pieces, diverting aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships to Asian ports with lax oversight where Francis could inflate costs, according to the criminal complaint.
Petty Officer 1st Class Bobbie Attaway
Cmdr. Heedong Choi, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer USS Chafee, holds a press conference with Korean media on the ship's bridge. Chafee was participating in Foal Eagle 2009, an annual joint exercise involving forces from the United States and the Republic of Korea. Image dated March 12, 2009.
Scott Thornbloom/US Navy/Getty Images
A view from the rooftop of Swissotel in Singapore with an inset of Capt. Heedong Choi taken in August 2015.
Photo by Marc Benshetler
U.S. Navy Capt. Jeffrey Breslau (left, in this image from August 2012) pleaded guilty to conflict of interest. The former Director of Public Affairs for the Pacific Fleet was sentenced Feb. 8, 2019, to six months in custody, fined $20,000, ordered to perform 250 hours of community service and pay $65,000 in restitution to the U.S. Navy.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Jessica Bidwell/US Navy
Cmdr. Troy Amundson, right, speaks with members of the Philippine navy in 2010. He pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in January and will spend 30 months in prison.
U.S. Navy Image
Cmdr. David Morales, captured in a U.S. Navy image in 2015, was sentenced to less than six months in prison at a hearing in September 2018. Morales was tried in August and convicted of conduct unbecoming an officer and failing to report foreign contacts on his security clearance renewal.
Christine Walker-Singh, Defense Imagery Management Operations Center
Capt. John Steinberger, former commander of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) One, pictured on Oct. 12, 2012, at a change of command ceremony at Naval Base San Diego. In March 2018 he pleaded guilty to willful dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
Paul Krueger
Retired Admiral Bruce F. Loveless walks with his legal team outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego.
AP
This undated image released by the U.S. Navy and provided by The San Diego Union-Tribune shows Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless.
U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Shawn J. Stewart
Rear Admiral Kenneth J. Norton, the former commander of USS Ronald Reagan, set "a wholly unethical tone of leadership" after repeatedly accepting improper gifts from a defense contractor, according to a censure from the Secretary of the Navy.
Jay Yoo, NBC 7
Enrico “Rick” DeGuzman, a retired USMC Colonel, exits the federal courthouse in San Diego on March 14, 2017.
Jacob D Moore
Commanding officer Capt. David A. Lausman speaks to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in 2011.
Department of Defense
Capt. Daniel Dusek pleaded guilty to conspiracy of bribery in January 2015.
Department of Defense
An image of Rear Admiral Robert J. Gilbeau taken in 2011 from the Department of Defense.
The Feast/Cat Snodgrass
Capt. Daniel Dusek, commanding officer of USS Bonhomme Richard salutes a newly pinned officer in Sept. 2012. Dusek pleaded guilty to charges for his involvement in a widespread bribery scheme.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Mark Alvarez
Capt. Daniel Dusek, commanding officer of the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, gives a tour of the ship's medical bay to Myanmar naval officers in November 2012.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Russell
Capt. Daniel Dusek, right, commanding officer of USS Bonhomme Richard, is pictured giving a tour to a general of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force in September 2012.
NBC 7 News
Navy Commander Jose Luis Sanchez walks from a hearing flanked by his defense attorneys on Nov. 20, 2013. In January, Sanchez admitted to bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery in a plea deal.
Paul Krueger, NBC 7
Navy Petty Officer Dan Layug walks outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego after pleading guilty in a Navy bribery scandal on May 20, 2014.
Paul Krueger, NBC 7
U.S. Navy Petty Officer Dan Layug leaves the courthouse in San Diego after entering a guilty plea in the investigation. Layug admitted to accepting $10,000 in cash, travel and a "bucket list" of video games and gadgets from a foreign defense contractor in exchange for providing classified information.
NBC 7 News
John Beliveau told reporters outside court on Dec. 1, 2013, "Well, we'll get it done," before pleading guilty for his role in the scheme.
NBC 7 News
Beliveau, surrounded by attorneys outside the federal courthouse in San Diego.
NBC 7 News
John Beliveau, pictured on the day he admitted to bribery in December 2013 in San Diego.
AP
In this photo taken Dec. 3, 2010, U.S. navy officer Michael "Vannak Khem" Misiewicz becomes emotional as he embraces his aunt. Misiewicz passed confidential information on ship routes to Malaysian businessman Leonard Francis' Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA, according to court documents.
Petty Officer 3rd Class Daniel Viramontes
Petty Officer 2nd Class Dan Layug (right), a logistics specialist assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet command ship USS Blue Ridge and a member of the of the E-5 Leadership Organization, volunteers with a Republic of Korea navy sailor during a community service project at the Bluebird Home for the Aged. Blue Ridge and 7th Fleet staff arrived in Busan for the combined forces Exercise Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 2010.
Getty Images
In this handout image provided by U.S. Navy, USS Essex (LHD 2) gets underway off the coast of Sepangar, Malaysia — one of the locations considered a "Pearl Port," prosecutors alleged.
USS Mustin was one of the ships involved in the crimes, according to court documents
U.S. Navy photographs
Rear Admirals (Left to right) Terry Kraft, Michael H. Miller and David R. Pimpo received what is considered a career-ending letter from the Secretary of the Navy for their roles.
Photographer's Mate 2nd Class (AW/SW) Carolla Bennett
This photo from 2007 shows USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Commanding Officer Capt. Terry Kraft. Kraft had risen to a rear admiral before he was censured in the scandal. He was not formally charged.
U.S. Navy photo by Charles Morris
Navy Rear Adm. David Pimpo, seen in this official photo from July 2014, was censured for his role in the scandal but not formally charged.
U.S. Navy image
USS Ronald Reagan at sea.
In November, the Navy announced Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless and Vice Admiral Ted Branch would no longer have access to classified material. The men were not charged but were implicated in the criminal probe.
Debord admitted he instructed Francis and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), to add charges for fake services into invoices sent to the U.S. Navy; those charges were used to mask the illegal gifts he received in turn. The fraud lasted from November 2007 to January 2013.
According to his guilty plea, Debord used code language and fake email accounts to communicate with Francis and others involved in the fraud—often referring to prostitutes as "cheesecakes" and "bodyguards" to avoid being caught.
In one instance, Debord asked for three hotel rooms, two cell phones, a van and $2,000 in Singaporean money from a GDMA executive during a port visit to Singapore. He then told the employee to inflate the charges billed to the U.S. Navy for potable water and trash removal service on a U.S. Navy ship.
“This conduct is a disgrace to the U.S. Navy and an affront to U.S. taxpayers who were left to foot the bill for parties and prostitutes. We are pressing forward in this investigation until we are certain that all involved have been held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.
Sixteen people have been charged during the investigation.
In 2015, Francis pleaded guilty to bribing senior Navy officials in exchange for specific U.S. Navy warship movements so his company could overbill the Pentagon. Two former executives of his company were also charged for their involvement in the bribery scheme in September 2016.
Earlier in the year, Rear Admiral Robert Gilbeau pleaded guilty to one felony charge in the multi-million dollar bribery scheme. He became the highest-ranking U.S. Navy officer to be charged in the case.
Former civilian Defense Department Officer Paul Simpkins also entered a guilty plea in a federal court in San Diego.
Retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edmond A. Aruffo, U.S. Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek, U.S. Navy Capt. (Select) Michael Misiewicz, Lt. Cmdr. Todd Malaki, NCIS Special Agent John Beliveau, Cmdr. Jose Luis Sanchez and U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dan Layug have also pleaded guilty. Layug, Malaki, Dusek and Misiwicz have been sentenced, while Gilbeau, Beliveau, Sanchez, Simpkins and Aruffo await sentencing.
Retired Capt. Michael Brooks and Cmdr. Bobby Pitts were charged in May, along with Debord. Their cases are pending.
Debord is scheduled to appear in court for his sentencing on Jan. 13, 2017. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
