An international manhunt for Leonard Glenn Francis, 57, ended with his arrest by Venezuelan authorities Tuesday morning at the Caracas airport as he was about to board a plane to another country, the US Marshals Service said. Here are some details about the remarkable case and Francis’ escape just days before he was sentenced.
Who is this?
Francis built a huge business, largely fulfilling US military supply contracts through his Singapore-based ship services company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. After financial inconsistencies began to be identified by some US Navy officials in 2010, an investigation ensued. Francis was lured into a San Diego hotel meeting three years later and arrested, and five other employees of his company are also charged. Prosecutors said the company overcharged the navy by at least US$35 million. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering prostitution services, luxury hotels, cigars, gourmet meals and more than US$500,000 in bribes to navy officials and others. Earning his nickname because of his height — six-foot-three, believed to be well over 300 pounds — Francis took part in Fat Leonard, a podcast from Project Brazen that launched last year. Francis often boasted when recounting his exploits to journalist Tom Wright on the podcast, but said he felt “betrayed” by how his case turned out. “I’ve been a loyal man, a contractor, a defense contractor, and I’ve done a lot over the last 30 years,” he said. “Supporting hundreds if not thousands of ships, hundreds of thousands of sailors and marines in all kinds of places. I have never brought any harm to the United States. This was just a financial matter.”
Serious details embarrass the Pentagon
The case was a huge black eye for the US military, highlighting corruption in the ranks and raising security concerns given the information Francis was privy to. Navy officers provided Francis with classified information that helped him beat competitors and, in some cases, commanders steered ships to Pacific ports where his company could charge false duties and fees, prosecutors said. A US federal attorney described it in 2017 as “a botching and betrayal of the United States Navy of epic proportions”. The details of Francis’ pleas and his dealings with the navy did not make boring reading. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Pletcher, left, and Robert Huie, right, speak Jan. 15, 2015, outside federal court in San Diego, regarding Francis’ guilty plea to bribery charges. Dozens of US naval officers were convicted of various charges as a result of the so-called Fat Leonard scandal. (Lenny Ignelzi/The Associated Press) A meal during a 2006 port visit to Hong Kong cost US$20,435. A dinner during a port visit to Singapore that year included foie gras, beef soup, brandy costing about US$2,000 a bottle and cigars at US$2,000 a box. And then there was a port call in the Philippines in 2007 that involved allegations of wild escapades involving naval officers and several prostitutes at a Manila hotel. Francis also owned a decommissioned British ship that was often used as a party to entertain top US naval officials, the courts heard.
House arrest challenged
The fact that he escaped and the circumstances surrounding it made matters worse, albeit this time for the US Marshals Service and federal authorities. With Francis’ help, prosecutors secured convictions for 33 of the 34 defendants, including more than a dozen naval officers. Francis was facing up to 25 years in prison and was due to be sentenced on September 22. While in custody, he was hospitalized and treated for kidney cancer and other medical problems, undergoing unspecified procedures, according to court records. He was placed on what is called medical leave. Four years ago, U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino feared that Francis might flee and repeatedly argued that he could remain under house arrest only if private security guards were on site 24 hours a day, according to with an in camera transcript. in February 2018 which was unsealed in January this year. He raised similar concerns at another hearing on December 17, 2020, after receiving a report that the house was left unattended for almost three hours. The guard said he was on a long lunch break, according to court records. The judge was also surprised to learn in an in camera hearing that Francis’ three children and his mother lived in the main residence on the property where he resided.
How did he get away?
The San Diego Police Department received a call on September 4th. After finding the house empty, police contacted US Probation Services, the federal agency responsible for his incarceration, which then called the US Marshals Service. A U.S. Army spokesman said officers found no security personnel at the home when they arrived at the home, which was estimated to be about seven hours after Francis removed his ankle monitor with heavy duty scissors. The device was found at home. “That’s the risk that’s taken when defendants are on GPS tracking, you know,” Omar Castillo, a supervising deputy U.S. marshal, told The Associated Press. “Not everyone cuts off their GPS bracelets, but it can happen.” Neighbors reported seeing U-Haul trucks coming and going from the home a day or two before the escape.
What happened next
There were fears that Francis, with his wealth and connections, might end up in Asia. But his home is about a 40-minute drive from the Mexican border, where vehicles flow into Tijuana and stop only randomly. Although the US and Venezuela are not allies, Francis was arrested at the country’s main international airport on Wednesday following a red alert requested by the United States for crimes of corruption and bribery, the head of Interpol in Venezuela said in a statement posted on Instagram . He arrived in Venezuela from Mexico, with a stopover in Cuba, and planned to continue to Russia, the Interpol statement said. The authorities will now initiate the process of his extradition, he added.
