A fugitive businessman who duped the U.S. Navy out of millions of dollars is among the prisoners Venezuela exchanged for Alex Saab, the close ally of President Nicolás Maduro who was imprisoned in Miami on charges of conspiracy to launder money.
Known as “Fat Leonard”, the notorious billionaire and former military contractor was extradited as part of a prisoner exchange between Venezuela and the United States, the White House confirmed.
The Malaysian-born businessman, whose real name is Leonard Glenn Francis, was the mastermind of a $35 million fraud against the U.S. Navy. He had escaped from home detention in the U.S. in 2022.
Ten U.S. citizens who were imprisoned in Venezuela were also released as part of the deal.
Francis, the highest-profile prisoner involved in the swap deal, was arrested in September 2022, as he was about to board a flight from Venezuela to Russia, in his attempt to elude U.S. authorities.
Two weeks earlier, the Malaysian businessman had absconded from house arrest in California, where he was being held after admitting his involvement in an extensive fraud that cost the U.S. tens of millions of dollars and implicated several naval officers.
Historic fraud
Prosecutors say Francis used his Singapore-based company, which had contracts to service vessels in the U.S. naval fleet, to defraud the navy while bribing officials with cash and gifts.
Documents filed with the court as part of his compliance sentence accused Francis of bribing more than 30 officials, including more than 20 naval officers to win lucrative contracts for his Singapore-based company Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd.
According to the Justice Department, he showered naval officers with millions of dollars in gifts, which included lavish trips, “top-shelf alcohol and wine,” Spanish suckling pigs, Havana cigars and access to prostitution services.
The businessman also acknowledged that he had overcharged the Pentagon for fabricated services. In total, prosecutors said he defrauded the navy of $35 million, ranking as one of the largest frauds in the history of that naval force.
In exchange, the officers turned over classified documents and other sensitive material to Francis’ company, which had a contract to resupply and service the naval fleet in Asia.
Francis was initially arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty to offering US$500,000 in bribes in 2015.
Officials implicated
The disgraced businessman was allowed to have house arrest due to his poor health at the time. According to his compliance sentence, he would receive medical care for kidney cancer, in exchange for maintaining private surveillance and cooperating with the Department of Justice.
Francis is said to have provided incriminating evidence against hundreds of Navy officials and officers.
Journalist Tom Wright, who did a podcast with the businessman titled “Fat Leonard,” told the BBC that Francis had made “huge amounts of money” after the 9/11 attacks by overcharging his bills to the U.S. Navy.
Wright added that Francis had agreed to collaborate with the podcast because he was “furious” about what he considered to be a cover-up. “Admiral after admiral who were involved with him were not criminally prosecuted. In the U.S. it was the lower-ranking officers [who were prosecuted].”
Escape and capture
On September 4, 2022, weeks before his sentencing, Francis cut off and got rid of the electronic cricket he had on around his ankle that monitored his movements.
He left his home and managed to cross the border into Mexico, where he took a flight to Cuba, but the authorities would not allow him to stay on the island. So he traveled to Venezuela.
There, he applied for asylum at the Russian embassy in Caracas. He had not yet received a response from Moscow, when he was intercepted trying to board a flight to that country on September 20, 2022.
The United States sought to reclaim the fugitive businessman, but with diplomatic relations between Washington and Caracas severed, Francis was in legal limbo until the swap that resulted in his extradition was negotiated.
In a statement, President Joe Biden said Francis will now be “sentenced for his primary role in a case of brazen bribery and corruption.”
No date has been set at this time for the sentence, which previously called for 25 years in prison, with a substantial reduction for cooperating with prosecutors. But after his escape and attempt to circumvent U.S. authorities, he may not get much leniency.
The others released
Alluding to the other citizens released by Venezuela, President Biden added: “I am grateful that their ordeals are over and that these families are whole once again.”
The White House said those released included Joseph Cristella, Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore and Savoi Wright.
It considers these six of the 10 Americans released by Venezuela to have been “improperly detained.”
The White House also revealed that Caracas had agreed to release 20 Venezuelan political prisoners, as well as opposition leader Roberto Abdul, and that it had agreed to suspend arrest warrants for three other Venezuelans.
This is not the first prisoner exchange agreed between Venezuela and the United States.
In October 2022, the Venezuelan government released seven imprisoned U.S. citizens in exchange for the release of two nephews of Maduro’s wife, known as the “narco-nephews”.
Known as the “narco nephews”, the two men were serving 18-year sentences for attempting to smuggle cocaine into the US.
Relations between the two countries were further relaxed in October of this year when Washington eased sanctions against the South American country in exchange for President Maduro agreeing to allow international observers to monitor next year’s presidential elections.
Human rights groups in Venezuela reacted to the news of the swap by demanding the release of nearly 300 imprisoned people they call political prisoners.