Former senior MSC official convicted in bribery case
Written by Nick Blenkey
A federal jury in the District of Columbia has convicted the former Director of Operations of the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command office in Busan, South Korea, for his role in a bribery conspiracy and for lying to federal investigators.
The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division says that, according to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Fernando Xavier Monroy, 64, of Brentwood, N.Y., engaged in a conspiracy to commit bribery with the owner of DK Marine, a South Korea-based company that provided services to the U.S. Navy, and with a former civilian U.S. Navy cargo ship captain. Evidence at trial proved that Monroy conspired to unlawfully provide services for the Navy ship, captained by one of Monroy’s co-conspirators, during a December 2013 port visit in Chinhae, South Korea.
Evidence at trial also proved that Monroy provided a co-conspirator with confidential and other proprietary, internal U.S. Navy information. In exchange for the steering of business and the provision of such information, the co-conspirator paid bribes to Monroy, including cash, personal travel expenses, meals and alcoholic beverages, and the services of prostitutes.
Monroy also repeatedly lied to special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) during a voluntary interview in July 2019.
Monroy was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and making false statements. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18 and faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
