SAN DIEGO \u2014 A U.S. Navy commander was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for his role in a fraud and bribery scheme that cost the government about $35 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cmdr. Bobby Pitts, 48, of Chesapeake, Virginia, was the latest person to be sentenced in connection with a decade-long scam linked to a Singapore defense contractor known as \u201cFat Leonard\u201d Francis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Francis bribed Navy officials to help him overbill the Navy for fuel, food and other services his company provided to ships docked in Asian ports, according to prosecutors. The bribes allegedly ranged from cash and prostitutes to Cuban cigars and Spanish suckling pigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pitts pleaded guilty in 2015 to charges that alleged he tried to obstruct a federal investigation while in charge of the Navy\u2019s Fleet Industrial Supply Command in Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In handing down the sentence against Pitts, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino told him that he had \u201cbetrayed the Navy and betrayed the country,\u201d prosecutors said in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPitts deliberately and methodically undermined government operations and in doing so, diverted his allegiance from his country and colleagues to a foreign defense contractor, and for that, he is paying a high price,\u201d said Adam Braverman, the U.S. Attorney in San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to his prison sentence, Pitts was also ordered to pay $22,500 in fines and restitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A U.S. Navy commander was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for his role in a fraud and bribery scheme that cost the government about $35 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"}}},"categories":[101,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2743],"class_list":["post-27187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"3FRYGMGRCJFDBAHZKZZUSSNPD4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/12\/03\/navy-commander-gets-18-months-in-fat-leonard-corruption-scandal\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n