Department of Justice

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, October 19, 2018

Former U.S. Navy Commander Sentenced to Prison for Bribery Conspiracy with Foreign Defense Contractor in Massive U.S. Navy Corruption and Fraud Case

A former U.S. Navy Commander was sentenced today to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and $21,625.60 in restitution by the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The case relates to a wide-ranging corruption and fraud investigation involving foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis and his Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Adam L. Braverman for the Southern District of California, made the announcement.

Earlier this year, Amundson, 51, of Ramsey, Minnesota pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, admitting that he conspired with Francis and others to receive things of value in exchange for taking official acts for the benefit of GDMA and violating his official duties to the U.S. Navy. Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribery and fraud charges.

According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea, from May 2005 to May 2013, Amundson served as the officer responsible for coordinating the U.S. Navy’s joint military exercises with its foreign navy counterparts. As part of his duties, Amundson was responsible for building and maintaining cooperative relationships with the U.S. Navy’s foreign navy exercise partners. Amundson admitted that from September 2012 through October 2013, Francis paid for dinner, drinks, transportation, other entertainment expenses, and the services of prostitutes for Amundson and other U.S. Navy officers, in return for sensitive information, such as U.S. Navy ship schedules, and for taking other actions in favor of GDMA and in violation of his official duties. Amundson further admitted that after being interviewed by federal criminal investigators in October 2013, he deleted e-mail correspondence with Francis.

So far, 33 defendants have been charged and 21 have pleaded guilty, many admitting to accepting things of value from Francis in exchange for helping the contractor win and maintain contracts and overbill the Navy by millions of dollars.

The investigation is being conducted by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Defense Contract Audit Agency. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Brian R. Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark W. Pletcher and Patrick Hovakimian of the Southern District of California.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-navy-commander-sentenced-prison-bribery-conspiracy-foreign-defense-contractor