A military contractor who has pleaded guilty in the worst corruption scandal in US Navy history has left his home in San Diego despite being under house arrest, a police officer told AFP on Monday.
“Leonard Francis cut his GPS surveillance anklet on Sunday morning,” officer Omar Castillo of the US Marshals, a federal police agency tasked in particular with the search for fugitives, said in a press release sent to AFP. .
Known as “Fat Leonard”, the Malaysian would be sentenced in three weeks, according to US media.
Leonard Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering about $500,000 in bribes to naval officers to direct official work to his shipyards, at a Singapore-based company. The work done on the American ships reportedly charged the Navy $35 million.
Four Navy officers found guilty
Officers were dispatched to his San Diego residence on Sunday after the agency monitoring his anklet reported a problem with the device, Castillo said.
“When they arrived, they noticed that there was no one there and that the house was empty. They then informed the US Marshals, who went to his accommodation and verified that he was no longer there. Various avenues are currently being studied,” he said. .
The San Diego Union-Tribune, a local newspaper, reported that the severed GPS bracelet was found in the home, while neighbors reported seeing moving trucks coming and going through the property in the days leading up to the breakout.
Leonard Francis was arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty two years later. He suffered from numerous health problems, including kidney cancer, which led to his being placed under house arrest in 2018 while serving as a cooperating witness for federal prosecutors. He was due to be sentenced on September 22.
So far, four Navy officers have been convicted in the case, while 29 others, including Navy officers, contractors and Leonard Francis himself, have pleaded guilty.
Source: BFM TV
