Leonard Glenn Francis (Fat Leonard), who escaped two weeks ago from house arrest in San Diego, California, United States, expressed his desire to stay in Venezuela, according to sources in the judicial system.
Fat Leonard, 58, born in Malaysia, is on trial for allegedly bribing senior US Navy officials in exchange for favorable contracts for his shipping company Glenn Defense Marine, according to the Interpol file.
This person was arrested on Wednesday, September 21, at the “Simón Bolívar” International Airport, located in Maiquetía, La Guaira.
The next day, that is, on Thursday, September 22, Leonard Glenn was presented before the 27th Court of Control of Caracas.
In that presentation hearing, the Public Ministry, through the prosecutor Jesús Sánchez, charged him with the crimes of illicit association to commit a bribe, bribery and illicit association to defraud the United States, judicial sources revealed.
During the hearing, Leonard Glenn spoke and said that he wants to stay in Venezuela to reunite with his wife and family because he has stage 4 metastatic renal carcinoma (cancer), according to medical reports added to file 27C-19.994-2022.
Given this circumstance, he stated that he will process a political asylum in Venezuela. He also admitted having escaped from the United States, where he was serving a 15-year prison sentence, of which he had paid 10, according to his testimony.
Red Code
Leonard Glenn’s arrest occurs because he had a red notice from Interpol, an alert code for any country to arrest him and notify the United States from where they would activate the extradition process.
The red notice was filed by the United States just last September 9, after learning that the man had escaped. After breaking the shackle placed on his right foot, he crossed the border to Mexico from where he flew to Cuba to move to Porlamar (Nueva Esparta) and finally landed in Caracas.
Interpol’s internal file says that “between approximately 2004 and September 2013 Leonard Glenn Francis and others defrauded the United States of more than $35 million.”
The file states that Francis was president of Glenn Defense Marine, a Singapore company that provided shipping agency services to the United States Navy during that military component’s operations in the Pacific Ocean.
The shipping agency chaired by Francis coordinated, programmed and directly or indirectly acquired the items and services needed by American ships and submarines when they arrived at port.
Francis and his company submitted “fraudulently inflated” payment claims to the US Navy for services under contract, the Interpol file says.
Francis’s company paid bribes to US Navy commanders “in cash, travel expenses, luxury hotel stays, extravagant lunches and prostitute services.”
Until now, there are 33 high-ranking officers of the United States Navy who received convictions for being immersed in this corruption plot, according to the sentences.
