Leonard Glenn Francis fled the US earlier this month forward of sentencing for his position in a large bribery scandal.
A Malaysian defence contractor – popularly often called “Fats Leonard” – who orchestrated one of many largest bribery scandals in United States army historical past has been arrested in Venezuela.
A world manhunt was launched for Leonard Glenn Francis earlier this month after he fled the US forward of his scheduled sentencing for his position within the huge bribery scandal involving dozens of US naval officers.
The hunt ended with Francis’s arrest by Venezuelan authorities on Tuesday morning at Caracas airport as he was about to board an aeroplane for an additional nation, the US Marshals Service mentioned on Wednesday.
Carlos Garate Rondon, the director basic of Venezuela’s workplace of the worldwide police company Interpol, mentioned in a press release posted on Instagram that Francis got here to Venezuela from Mexico and that he was headed onward to Russia.
He had additionally made a stop-over in Cuba, the Interpol chief mentioned, including that Francis can be handed over to judicial authorities in preparation for his extradition.
Francis’s arrest got here on the eve of his scheduled sentencing in a federal court docket in California for a bribery scheme that lasted greater than a decade and concerned dozens of US Navy officers.
There was no quick phrase on when he is perhaps extradited to the US.
Francis was confined to residence arrest in San Diego when he reduce off his GPS ankle bracelet and escaped on September 4. Ten US companies have looked for Francis and a $40,000 reward was supplied by the US Marshals Service and the NCIS [Naval Criminal Investigative Service].
US authorities additionally issued an Interpol purple discover, which asks regulation enforcement worldwide to provisionally arrest somebody with the potential for extradition. It was thought that Francis had fled to Mexico as step one in a journey that may return him to Asia.
Malaysia and Singapore each have extradition agreements with the US.
Francis pleaded responsible in 2015 to providing prostitution providers, luxurious journey and accommodations, lavish meals and greater than $500,000 in bribes to US Navy officers and others to assist his Singapore-based ship servicing firm, Glenn Protection Marine Asia Ltd or GDMA, safe profitable US naval contracts.
Prosecutors mentioned the corporate then overcharged the navy by no less than $35m for servicing US ships, lots of which have been routed to ports he managed within the Pacific with the help of the officers receiving his bribes.
The primary to be convicted within the case was John Beliveau II, a supervisor within the NCIS, who pleaded responsible in 2012 to conspiracy and bribery fees.
Beliveau is believed to have given Francis recommendation on find out how to thwart an NCIS investigation towards him, leaked the names of witnesses, and shared tons of of pages of confidential NCIS recordsdata with him.
In trade for info, Beliveau obtained journey, dinners and resort prices price hundreds of dollars throughout visits to Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. He additionally obtained no less than 5 envelopes of money, and the providers of intercourse staff, the doc mentioned.
Beliveau was sentenced to 12 years in jail in 2016 and ordered to pay $20m in restitution to the Navy.
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