“Fat Leonard” Francis

The “Fat Leonard” corruption scandal has been described as “perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War.” More than two dozen Naval officers have pleaded guilty to taking bribes in the slow-moving investigation. 

As perhaps a sign of the times, the scandal has spawned an award-winning Fat Leonard podcast and now, it has been announced that the producers are developing a TV series based on the podcast. 

In 2013,  Leonard Glenn Francis, a rotund Malaysian defense contractor known as “Fat Leonard”, admitted to offering $500,000 in bribes to Navy officers, in exchange for classified information and for redirecting military vessels to ports that were lucrative for his Singapore-based ship servicing company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, or GDMA. In addition to cash bribes, Fat Leonard plied the officers with prostitutes, Cuban cigars, expensive meals, Lady Gaga tickets, and free stays at luxury hotels, among other things.

According to the Navy Times, twenty-nine people, mostly Navy officials, have pleaded guilty to helping Francis including providing classified ship schedules in exchange for extravagant outings in South Asia with prostitutes and meals with tabs totaling more than $20,000. The trial of the last five defendants is wrapping up in San Diego. 

Prosecutors say Francis and his company overcharged the U.S. military by more than $35 million for its services between 2004 and 2013, which included providing food and water to the ships at Pacific ports in Asia.

Leonard Francis pleaded guilty in January 2015 and has been held in prison or under house arrest since then. He is expected to be sentenced in July.  During this time, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Unhappy with his treatment, Francis agreed to speak to journalist Tom Wright. From these interviews, the Fat Leonard podcast emerged. 

The podcast tag line reads: Under arrest and battling cancer, Leonard Francis, aka Fat Leonard, is angry, and he’s talking for the first time. His explosive story will change the way you look at the U.S. Navy forever.

The Fat Leonard podcast recently garnered a SOPA 2022 Award for Excellence in Audio Reporting.

Deadline is now reporting that the podcast producers, Project Brazen and SK Global, are teaming up with Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Peter Chiarelli to write a television adaptation chronicling the decades-long “Fat Leonard” U.S. Navy scandal.