SAN DIEGO (AP) — Since his escape two weeks agoofficials say the fugitive Malaysian defense contractor nicknamed ‘Fat Leonard’ – who orchestrated one of the US Navy’s biggest corruption scandals – has been crossing countries to find a place where he could practically become untouchable for the American authorities.
It almost worked.
After cutting an ankle monitor and escaping house arrest in San Diego on September 4, US and Venezuelan officials said Leonard Glenn Francis crossed the border into Mexico, then traveled to Cuba and in Venezuela, where he was arrested Tuesday in Simón Bolívar. International airport outside of Caracas.
Francis was planning to travel to Russia, according to Interpol Venezuela director general Carlos Garate Rondon, who revealed the arrest in a statement posted on Instagram on Wednesday. He said Francis would be handed over to the country’s judicial authorities to begin extradition proceedings.
Greg Rinckey, a former Army attorney now in private practice, said he thought Francis was “trying to play the angle of using certain countries to get out of the jurisdiction of the US Marshals Service.”
“Looks like they caught it just in time,” Rinckey said. “If he got to Russia, I don’t think the Russians would have delivered him to us.”
And while Venezuela and the United States have an extradition agreement, the US government could face a tough challenge to return the fugitive to US soil. The Biden administration does not officially recognize President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government, has no embassy in Venezuela and has imposed crippling sanctions on the country that have further soured relations. Police cooperation between the two countries is rare.
There was no immediate word on when Francis might be extradited to the United States.
The arrest came on the eve of his scheduled sentencing in California federal court for a years-long bribery scheme.
Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 and was allowed home confinement to receive medical treatment while he cooperated with the prosecution. With his help, prosecutors secured convictions for 33 of the 34 defendants, including more than two dozen naval officers.
The towering man with a large girth and a gregarious personality wielded incredible influence as the main point of contact for US Navy ships in ports across Asia.. The family-owned ship maintenance company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. or Singapore-based GDMA, has been supplying ships with food, water and fuel for decades. He offered officers Kobe beef, expensive cigars, concert tickets and wild sex parties at luxury hotels from Thailand to the Philippines. In return, commanders fed him classified information and directed their ships, mostly from the Navy’s 7th Fleet, to ports he controlled so he could hide up to $35 million in false accusations.
Among those he befriended was a Russian diplomat, Francis told podcaster Tom Wright, who created a nine-part series on the case. In an episode published last October, Francis said he lived just “a stone’s throw” from the Russian embassy in Singapore, and that the Russian diplomat stopped by his house uninvited to drop off money. vodka and other gifts.
It is unclear whether Francois turned to his Russian friends for help while on the run.
A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case told The Associated Press that authorities tracked down Francis using a cell phone number provided to them. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly, said Francis was in a Caracas neighborhood on Tuesday.
Venezuelan authorities deployed a team of officers to the airport after a taxi driver informed them that Francis was leaving a hotel and heading there.
The official said Francois intended to board a plane to the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita, which Venezuela wants to turn into a popular destination for Russian tourists because of its pristine beaches reachable by ferry or by flights from the mainland. The government said last month it planned to offer five flights a week between Margarita and Moscow from October 1. Signs in Russian are already visible on the island.
The official said Francis later told authorities his final destination was Russia.
It is unclear whether Francis had any contacts in Russia offering his help, and if he did, what they wanted in return. Francis boasted that he still has incriminating photos and videos of Navy officials.
“What worried the United States the most was that these officers were being corrupted by me, that they would be corruptible by foreign powers,” Francis said in one of the podcast episodes.
His sentencing hearing was still being held on Thursday to deal with developments. Upon his return, Francis will need new lawyers.
His defense attorney, Devin Burstein, told the judge he planned to file a motion to sever their ties due to an “irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship”. Burstein did not mention his client’s arrest in Venezuela.
And when Francis returns, prosecutors have indicated he will face an even longer sentence, asking the court to note his failure to appear at his sentencing hearing, as ordered. That could add five years to his potential 25-year sentence, if he is ultimately charged with failing to appear.
U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino scheduled a December 14 status hearing for Francis with the caveat that all parties could meet sooner depending on how events unfold.
“This turn of events raises several issues and will obviously have an impact on other cases,” she said.
Sentencing hearings are scheduled for October for four Navy officers who were tried and convicted in the case.
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Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. AP writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report.