![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/636022922790058331-francis-leonard-nav-fat-leonardbjpg.jpg\")
The Navy contends that Starmer then lied to investigators about the events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Navy\u2019s case contends that Starmer was fully aware of receiving the gifts that represented payment for past, current and future favors in steering Navy contracts for ship services to GDMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Jill Kelly testified in the case. She was the only witness called by either side in the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She testified that on the night of Sept. 6, 2012, Starmer met Francis in a Singapore gentlemen\u2019s club, where Francis picked up a tab somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 for a crowd that included not only Starmer, but other U.S. and GDMA officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Navy prosecutors don\u2019t know what part of that total was reserved for Starmer, but they say it\u2019s logical to assume his portion was over $20, the gift limit any U.S. government official can accept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly said that such events were part of Francis\u2019s \u201cgrooming\u201d of Navy officers, when he would give gifts and exchange contact information in an effort to help him overcharge for services provided when U.S. ships hit Asian ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly said the evidence shows that Starmer, in his job at the U.S. Military Advisory Group-Thailand, advocated for Francis and his company after a visit by the aircraft carrier Nimitz to Phuket, Thailand, in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During that visit, a taxi strike kept liberty buses taking sailors to and from town from operating on schedule, resulting in sailors failing to get to the ship on time. The incident angered the then-7th Fleet commander. As a result, contracting officials were threatening not to pay GDMA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In heated email exchanges, Starmer suggested that officials needed to \u201ccool down,\u201d which the prosecution claims amounted to advocacy for Francis\u2019s company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That \u201cadvocacy\u201d came just a month after Starmer visited Singapore and again met with Francis. Once again, Francis picked up the tab, the prosecution contends, and also included a prostitute for Starmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly said that Starmer, in interviews with investigators, admitted to having sex with the woman, but denied knowing she was a prostitute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, I never saw any money change hands, there was never any talk of prostitutes or mention of money, but shame on me,\u201d Kelly read from Starmer\u2018s testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starmer\u2019s attorney, Coast Guard Lt. Robert Canoy, asked Kelly if Starmer was ever actually asked by the investigators if he\u2019d had sex with a prostitute. After reviewing her notes, Kelly said that he had not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canoy then told the preliminary hearing officer, Cmdr. Anthony Johnson, that he felt there weren\u2019t sufficient grounds for the charge and that it should be dropped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Kelly also outlined text messages that the prosecution says prove that Starmer knew the women provided by Francis were in fact prostitutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly said the text messages from Francis\u2019s phone, seized by the government, show that on April 3, 2013, Francis again sent a prostitute to Starmer\u2019s hotel room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a text to Francis discussing the previous night, Starmer wrote, \u201cNot very good, she wasn\u2019t very good, wouldn\u2019t [give oral sex], on the phone all night, other than that it was ok.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kelly then testified that Francis sent a text to a woman who organized scheduling for the prostitutes \u2014 known as \u201cMama Pat\u201d \u2014 who told him to only pay $800 dollars for the evening based on feedback from \u201cJason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In return for these favors, the prosecution contends that Starmer acted as a \u201csounding board\u201d to whom Francis could complain about Navy officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The defense contends that Starmer did not tip off Francis, and instead notified NCIS of potential issues with invoices Francis submitted for payment, which were never fully investigated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be up to Johnson to decide whether any or all of the charges should be carried out. He\u2019ll forward those recommendations to Adm. Phil Davidson, the convening authority for the prosecution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Navy commander was charged at an Article 32 hearing with accepting meals, alcohol and prostitutes from Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77625,"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"},"6":{"categories":[],"primary_category":""}}},"categories":[101,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3087],"class_list":["post-42524","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":"FSTGRV77YVDO3HKG7DVC7B7QT4","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/08\/31\/navy-commander-latest-to-be-charged-in-fat-leonard-scandal\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n