Jury convicts four of five Navy officers tried in GMDA bribery case

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In the latest development in the “Fat Leonard” case, on Wednesday, a federal jury failed to reach a verdict on charges brought against retired Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless. Four other defendants — former U.S. Navy Captains David Newland, James Dolan and David Lausman and former Commander Mario Herrera — were convicted on all counts of accepting bribes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, the former CEO of Glenn Marine Defense Asia (GMDA). The jury did not reach a verdict on the charges brought against a fifth defendant, retired Rear Admiral Bruce Loveless.

All five defendants were members of the “Seventh Fleet nine,” who were arrested on March 14, 2017 and charged in a federal indictment with accepting luxury travel, elaborate dinners and services of prostitutes from Francis in exchange for classified and internal U.S. Navy information.

The long-running fraud and bribery investigation has resulted in federal criminal charges against 34 U.S. Navy officials, defense contractors and the GDMA corporation. Twenty-nine previously pleaded guilty. With Wednesday’s four convictions, 33 defendants have now been convicted of various fraud and corruption offenses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino set a status hearing for July 21, 2022, at 2 p.m. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for October 11, 2022, at 9 a.m.

• Meantime, if you were wondering what happened to Leonard Glenn Francis, the Los Angeles Times recently reported that, following his guilty plea in 2015, his sentencing hearing has been postponed and he has been allowed to remain under house arrest while he is treated for cancer.