In January 2015, Leonard Francis signed a Plea Agreement and Addendum with the U.S. District Court in San Diego, California. Soon after, on March 10, 2017, nine active duty and retired United States Navy officers were indicted on a variety of charges, which included bribery, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to commit hones services fraud. Francis had used cash, travel, hotels, gratuities and sex to alter ship schedules and use locations where massive overcharges would be experienced by the Navy.
Francis' firm, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), received Navy contracts worth $200,000,000. The absence of checks and balances associated with these contracts was a breach of National Security, where the indicted Navy officers committed acts of espionage and ultimately compromised Secret, Confidential and For Official Use Only information to enrich Leonard Francis. Robert Huie, Assistant U.S. Attorney stated, “Mr. Francis’ conduct has passed from being merely exceptional to being the stuff of history and legend.”
ACBIO is the acronym that is a result of combining the Absence of Checks and Balances, Intent, and Opportunity (ACBIO), equals Contract Crime. This formula was devised by Bruno S. Wengrowski, a Federal Service retiree whose career included 25 years in operational contracting and over 9 years as a Professor of Contract Management. From January 1995 until September 2001, Bruno was the Technical Director for Procurement and Contracting at the Naval Regional Contracting Center in Singapore. It was during this time that Bruno frequently crossed paths with Leonard Francis, who was the owner of Glenn Marine Enterprises, PTE and based in Penang, Malaysia.
This book is the most comprehensive treatment of the Fat Leonard scandal. The book includes a fresh, relevant and new approach to address contract crime. In this book, Bruno describes the Leonard Francis scandal, which culminated from the exploitation of contracting vulnerabilities.