National Security

Feds: Navy secrets bought with prostitutes

By Washington Examiner
Published November 4, 2013 5:00am ET
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Feds: Navy secrets bought with prostitutes
In this photo taken Dec. 3, 2010, U.S. navy officer Michael "Vannak Khem" Misiewicz becomes emotional as he embraces his aunt Samrith Sokha, 72, at Cambodian coastal international see port of Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Misiewicz passed confidential information on ship routes to Malaysian businessman Leonard Francis' Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA, according to the court documents. Misiewicz and Francis moved Navy vessels like chess pieces, diverting aircraft carriers, destroyers and other ships to Asian ports with lax oversight where Francis could inflate costs, according to the criminal complaint. The firm overcharged the Navy millions for fuel, food and other services it provided, and invented tariffs by using phony port authorities, the prosecution alleges. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File) | Heng Sinith

SAN DIEGO — It started with an invitation to the Broadway production of “The Lion King” in Tokyo for the Navy commander, his wife and their children.

In the end, the Malaysian defense contractor known in military circles as “Fat Leonard” would use prostitutes, plane tickets and other bribes to hook the U.S. Naval officer into a scheme that overbilled the Pentagon by millions, investigators say in court papers.

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