{"id":21526,"date":"2018-08-19T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/19\/feds-indict-three-more-in-ongoing-fat-leonard-scandal\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:15:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:15:57","slug":"feds-indict-three-more-in-ongoing-fat-leonard-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/doj-fbi\/2018\/08\/19\/feds-indict-three-more-in-ongoing-fat-leonard-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds indict three more in ongoing \u2018Fat Leonard\u2019 scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A federal grand jury in San Diego on Friday charged three retired sailors \u2014 a captain and two senior enlisted personnel \u2014 in the ongoing Fat Leonard<\/a> corruption scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsealed indictments allege that Capt. David W. Haas, 50, took at least $145,000 in bribes from Leonard Glenn \u201cFat Leonard\u201d Francis, the Malaysian tycoon and defense contractor who since his late 2013 arrest in a San Diego sting has ratted out a string of corrupt sailors who steered ships to his port services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The portly Francis plied commanders and other key figures with cash, \u201cThai SEAL team\u201d prostitutes, luxury resort rooms and other perks in order to bilk $35 million from American taxpayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors have charged 32 defendants and 20 have pleaded guilty to public corruption charges over the past five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separate indictments released Friday targeted retired Master Chief Petty Officer Ricarte Icmat David, 61, and retired Chief Petty Officer Brooks Alonzo Parks for allegedly taking other perks from Francis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three defendants allegedly traded on their rank and influence within the Navy to pay bloated invoices submitted by the now defunct company Francis led, Glenn Defense Marine Asia<\/a>, and steer ships to ports it controlled or otherwise assist Fat Leonard by leaking internal military records on his commercial competitors, among other favors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criminal defense attorney Jeremiah J. Sullivan, III<\/a>, told Navy Times that Haas will surrender voluntarily to federal agents on Aug. 30 in San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haas currently lives in Kailua, Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe is innocent and will be prepared to litigate his case in a court of law,” said Sullivan, who also represented convicted Lt. Cmdr. Todd Dale Malaki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Released from prison on March 28, Malaki, 47, swapped classified Navy ship schedules and other sensitive information to Francis for cash, hotel rooms and prostitution services, the same allegations now dogging Haas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011 Francis met Haas in Tokyo, feting the director of Maritime Operations for the Japan-based 7th Fleet at the Ritz Carlton and plying him and others with prostitutes at a cost of more than $20,000, according to the grand jury documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At around the same time, Francis was throwing a \u201c50th birthday\u201d party for the wives of Haas and others, court records indicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next year, Francis allegedly spent more than $75,000 buying Haas and his Navy cronies lavish hotel rooms, top-shelf booze and prostitutes at a luxury resort in Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 2012, the grand jury determined that Francis brought Haas and his co-conspirator, Cmdr. Michael Misiewicz, back to the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serving a sentence of more than six years at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California, Misiewicz slid Francis a dossier containing classified 7th Fleet ship schedules and other documents that included information about ballistic missile operations in the Western Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors now say that Haas was in the room when he did it. Francis, Haas and Misiewicz then allegedly scanned a Navy organizational chart to pick potential heirs to their corrupt empire when Misiewicz returned to the United States from the 7th Fleet in late 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The grand jury in San Diego also determined that Haas allegedly ordered Misiewicz to email Francis an internal Navy message outlining the upcoming port visit to Manila by the guided-missile destroyer Fitzgerald.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge at Yokosuka’s annual Friendship Day celebration on Aug. 4. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Adam K. Thomas\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that was far from all, according to federal court records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis allegedly bought Haas prostitutes in Malaysia in 2013 when the 7th Fleet\u2019s flagship, the Blue Ridge, pulled into Port Klang. And Fat Leonard always had more prostitutes ready for the captain in South Korea, Singapore and Sydney, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 24, 2013, Francis sent an email to his staffers, telling them about an upcoming port visit by the George Washington Carrier Strike Group to Malaysia. For that services proposal, he added, they should \u201cscrew them nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors allege the fix was in because Francis already knew \u201cmy brother Capt Dave Haas\u201d had rigged the port call through the Pacific Fleet commander as \u201c(h)is farewell present to me\u201d before the captain rotated back to San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the arrest of Francis in late 2013, the brass removed Haas, a Naval Academy graduate, from command of San Diego-based Coastal Riverine Group 1. He previously had commanded the guided-missile frigate Thach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because he wasn\u2019t indicted, however, the Navy allowed him to retire with his rank.<\/p>\n\n\n\t