A former U.S. Navy Commander was sentenced today to 30
months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a $10,000 fine
and $21,625.60 in restitution by the Honorable Janis L. Sammartino of the U.S.
District Court for the Southern District of California. The case relates to a wide-ranging corruption
and fraud investigation involving foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn
Francis and his Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Adam L. Braverman for
the Southern District of California, made the announcement.
Earlier this year, Amundson, 51, of Ramsey, Minnesota
pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, admitting that he
conspired with Francis and others to receive things of value in exchange for
taking official acts for the benefit of GDMA and violating his official duties
to the U.S. Navy. Francis pleaded guilty
in 2015 to bribery and fraud charges.
According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea,
from May 2005 to May 2013, Amundson served as the officer responsible for
coordinating the U.S. Navy’s joint military exercises with its foreign navy
counterparts. As part of his duties,
Amundson was responsible for building and maintaining cooperative relationships
with the U.S. Navy’s foreign navy exercise partners. Amundson admitted that from September 2012
through October 2013, Francis paid for dinner, drinks, transportation, other
entertainment expenses, and the services of prostitutes for Amundson and other
U.S. Navy officers, in return for sensitive information, such as U.S. Navy ship
schedules, and for taking other actions in favor of GDMA and in violation of
his official duties. Amundson further
admitted that after being interviewed by federal criminal investigators in
October 2013, he deleted e-mail correspondence with Francis.
So far, 33 defendants have been charged and 21 have pleaded
guilty, many admitting to accepting things of value from Francis in exchange
for helping the contractor win and maintain contracts and overbill the Navy by
millions of dollars.
The investigation is being conducted by the Defense Criminal
Investigative Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Defense
Contract Audit Agency. The case is being
prosecuted by Assistant Chief Brian R. Young of the Criminal Division’s Fraud
Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark W. Pletcher and Patrick Hovakimian of
the Southern District of California.
Posts
