How Fat Leonard bribed the Navy to get U.S. diplomatic immunity

[jpak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-fat-leonard-bribed-the-navy-to-get-us-diplomatic-immunity/2017/06/16/be4fd53c-5204-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?utm_term=.f6a99496339d

“Fat Leonard” ran a lot of corrupt schemes with the help of the U.S. Navy, but one of the strangest may be the time he was granted U.S. diplomatic immunity.

For more than a year, the Singapore-based defense contractor bribed the naval attache at the U.S. Embassy in Manila to enable his firm to smuggle maritime cargo into the Philippines under U.S. diplomatic cover, according to federal court records.

The illicit deal granted the contractor, whose real name is Leonard Glenn Francis, diplomatic clearance for his ships to visit Philippine ports without being subject to inspections, custom duties or taxes from local authorities, the records show.

Federal prosecutors say ­Francis exploited his diplomatic protection to bring armed Nepali soldiers — known as Gurkhas — into Philippine waters to serve as private security guards. At one point, Francis employed about 30 Gurkhas to deter pirates in Southeast Asia, according to two former business associates.

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