Long-running 'Fat Leonard' case hits new roadblocks

S1: Welcome to KPBS roundtable. I'm Andrew Bracken. It has been over a decade since the Fat Leonard bribery and corruption scandal hit the US Navy , becoming one of the largest in U.S. military history. But misconduct from prosecutors has upended the case.

S1: Craig , as Andrew mentioned , this wasn't the first that we heard about potential misconduct here. Tell us about what led up to , you know , what we saw last week with these cases being overturned. S2: Yeah , if I could chime in here , it's important to recognize the nature of these crimes that essentially people are getting away with. One of the defendants last week , a former Navy commander named Steve Shedd , who had been a commanding officer of a warship , the USS Melius , he had admitted on the stand and in his plea agreement to not only taking $100,000 worth of bribes from Leonard Francis , but leaking him military secrets on more than ten occasions.

S3: This is a part of the world that has been very important for for many years. I was first there in 2003 , um , and even back then with the war on terror , we have action in Afghanistan and Iraq , obviously. I mean , there were ships , you know , homeported in seventh fleet that were going over there and participating in those actions. But , um , there are several , you know , kind of destinations , you know , around the seventh fleet , which is the Western Pacific. Uh , and.

S3: He still has to be charged and tried for his abstention from justice. So there is more justice to come for Leonard Francis. It's just a matter of how much time it's going to take. S2: And Andrew , of course , knows this from his firsthand experience. But in the Navy , commanding officers or skippers or captains of a ship or submarine , do have extraordinary independence. Navy historically , is vested this independence on them because , you know , they're a way for at sea for months at a time. And in the olden days , you know , they didn't have communications with , with back in Washington or at base in the US.

S1: And we'll see if these convictions being overturned has some part in that as well. Right , Greg ? Absolutely. S1: You know , you both have been covering the scandal and the fallout for several years now. I'm just curious , you know , the question for each of you as we wrap up , what has surprised you most about what you found in your reporting ? Craig , I'll start with you. Sure.

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

'Embarrassment to the government': Judge slams prosecutors for unraveling of 'Fat Leonard' caseSan Diego federal Judge Janis Sammartino reluctantly threw out the case against a former Navy officer and allowed four others to reduce their pleas to misdemeanors
Source: sdut - 🏆 5. / 95 Read more »

'Fat Leonard' follows one of the world's greatest conmenThis is additional taxonomy that helps us with analytics
Source: MSNBC - 🏆 469. / 51 Read more »

More felony convictions overturned as 'Fat Leonard' case unravelsFelony convictions against a total of nine former military officers have now been vacated due to 'significant misconduct' of federal prosecutors.
Source: KPBSnews - 🏆 240. / 63 Read more »

Judge dismisses felony convictions of 5 retired U.S. Navy officers in 'Fat Leonard' bribery caseThe retired U.S. Navy officers had all admitted to accepting bribes from Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis, nicknamed ' Fat Leonard.'
Source: CBSNews - 🏆 87. / 68 Read more »

Judge dismisses felony convictions of 5 retired military officers in US Navy ‘Fat Leonard' bribery caseA federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the felony convictions of five retired military officers who had admitted to accepting bribes from a Malaysian contractor…
Source: NBCDFW - 🏆 288. / 63 Read more »

'Fat Leonard' conspiracy case fizzles more than a decade after contractor's arrestDelays in former military contractor Leonard Francis' sentencing mount as government reportedly considers reducing charges against previously convicted conspirators.
Source: KPBSnews - 🏆 240. / 63 Read more »