PENANG-BORN US Navy services contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, who became a global fugitive after escaping the US Marshall custody, is reportedly heading back to the United States after the country struck a prisoner swap deal with Venezuela yesterday.
Francis, who goes by the moniker of “Fat Leonard”, due to his larger-than-life exploits in Penang and Singapore, fled US in September last year in a daring escape before he arrived in the South American country.
He was transiting there but was caught as he was about to board a flight at the airport.
He then sought political asylum.
Legal proceedings were initiated for Francis to reside in the country but in the end Washington struck a deal with Caracas, both of which technically have no diplomatic relations. The two countries severed ties in 2019 on the grounds that the US was trying to oust former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
News reports indicated that both sides agreed to an exchange for 10 American detainees and a fugitive dubbed “Fat Leonard” in a sweeping prisoner swap deal between the governments yesterday.
In return the US freed Alex Saab, a confidant of socialist leader Maduro, who Washington accuses of laundering money for Caracas.
Francis, the fugitive arrested and returned by Venezuela, reportedly escaped house arrest in California in September 2022 by cutting off his GPS tag.
Francis, a Malaysian national, pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering some US$500,000 in bribes to navy officers to steer official work to his shipyards, carrying out work on US vessels that prosecutors say he overcharged the navy for to the tune of US$35 million.
Francis, who studied at the nation’s second oldest school, St Xavier’s Institution, was running a pub Penang before he was entangled with legal troubles after being caught in possession of a revolver.
After serving time in a Malaysian prison, Francis joined his family’s firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a Singapore-based outfit that secured defence contracting deals.
The firm also participated in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition series, one of the biggest defence exhibitions in the region.
He got caught up with allegations of bribing US Navy officials for their influence and access to military intelligence, which allowed him to earn millions of dollars from navy contracts.
Francis pleaded guilty to all charges including swindling the navy out of at least US$35 million in overcharges.
In exchange for navy contracts, Leonard would offer US naval officers cash, gourmet food, expensive cigars, rare cognac and hold sex parties in hotels in Singapore. – The Vibes, December 21, 2023.
