SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Nearly a decade after pleading guilty to bribing Navy officials to benefit his ship maintenance company, foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis will be sentenced Tuesday in San Diego.

Francis’ sentencing follows a controversial trial of five Navy officers, guilty pleas from dozens of other defendants and the pope’s own escape from the country while under house arrest.

Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 11 years and eight months for Francisco, who admitted to giving free meals, hotel rooms, prostitutes and other gifts to naval officials, who in turn helped direct Navy ships to ports controlled by the Francis. Francis’ company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, then billed the Navy more than $35 million for the company’s services, prosecutors said.

The sentence handed down to him by U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino, who presided over the entire case, will cover his role in the bribery scheme, as well as his escape from San Diego. Francisco is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a federal charge of failing to appear in court.

In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors described the bribery scheme as “aggravated and egregious” but said their sentencing recommendation credits Francisco with the information he provided to authorities. Francis met with investigators more than 50 times over several years, providing them with “detailed information on hundreds of people, from non-commissioned officers to admirals, including captains, commanders, vice admirals and rear admirals,” according to prosecutors, who wrote “it cannot be underestimate the degree and importance of their cooperation.

Francisco’s cooperation was integral to the defense of the five Navy officers who went on trial in 2022. Their lawyers argued that Francisco wove a web of lies implicating numerous Navy officers to obtain a reduced sentence and other benefits. of the government. Despite the information he disclosed, Francisco was never called to testify at the trial.

Following his guilty plea, Francis initially spent time in custody, but was later placed on house arrest in San Diego on medical leave due to a variety of health issues.

Authorities say that in the fall of 2022, as his sentencing in the bribery case approached, Francisco cut off a GPS monitor he was supposed to wear and disappeared from San Diego. He was later arrested in Venezuela and brought back to the United States last December following a prisoner exchange between the two countries.

In sentencing documents, his lawyers, who are asking for a prison sentence of eight years and nine months, say Francisco fled due in part to controversies surrounding the prosecution of Navy officials accused of accepting his bribes.

They wrote that Francisco feared that “the lead prosecutor was no longer or could not be a credible defender” to argue that his cooperation justified a reduced sentence.

Sammartino determined that that prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Pletcher, had engaged in “egregious misconduct” during the trial of the five naval officers. Four of those officers were convicted, but those convictions were later overturned and the officers were allowed to plead guilty to lesser crimes stemming from allegations of misconduct, which included allegations that the prosecutor withheld information from the officers’ defense attorneys. .

Other guilty pleas entered by other Navy officers for felonies were later allowed to be reduced to misdemeanors, while charges against another officer who pleaded guilty were dismissed entirely.

According to his lawyers, Francisco was also concerned about remaining in the United States due to his mother’s deteriorating health and “concluded that the chances of ever seeing his mother alive again were rapidly evaporating.” Francisco was also experiencing serious health problems, lawyers say.

They argue that Francisco “panicked” and “in a horrendous error of judgment, left the United States in hopes of finding some way to get to a place where he could spend time with his mother before either of them died.” Francisco’s mother died earlier this year in Malaysia while he was in custody.

“Leonard understands that this decision was inexcusable and wrong,” the sentencing memorandum reads. “He sincerely regrets the decision and calls it one of the worst decisions he has ever made in his life.”

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