‘Fat Leonard’ Was a Crook U.S. Admirals Called Bro

As Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock details in his deftly told new book, Fat Leonard : How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy, over the course of his career Francis swindled the Navy out of tens of millions of dollars. His firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, held “more than $200 million in defense contracts to resupply U.S. warships and submarines at almost every port in the Western Pacific.”

On Sept. 22, 2022, Venezuelan authorities spotted a hard-to-miss figure at Simón Bolívar International Airport, about to board a flight to Russia. Leonard Glenn Francis, known widely as “Fat Leonard,” was 6-foot-3 and 350 pounds—and was among Washington’s most wanted after escaping custody in California two weeks earlier. The 57-year-old Malaysian felon was enormous, rich, and charming. He was also at the center of one of the worst corruption and espionage scandals in U.S. history.

On Sept. 22, 2022, Venezuelan authorities spotted a hard-to-miss figure at Simón Bolívar International Airport, about to board a flight to Russia. Leonard Glenn Francis, known widely as “Fat Leonard,” was 6-foot-3 and 350 pounds—and was among Washington’s most wanted after escaping custody in California two weeks earlier. The 57-year-old Malaysian felon was enormous, rich, and charming. He was also at the center of one of the worst corruption and espionage scandals in U.S. history.

As Washington Post reporter Craig Whitlock details in his deftly told new book, Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked, and Seduced the U.S. Navy, over the course of his career Francis swindled the Navy out of tens of millions of dollars.