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Defense Department Employee Arrested In Navy Bribery Scheme

Federal officials have arrested a former Defense Department employee in a one of the Navy's worst corruption cases.

Paul Simpkins was arrested Tuesday in Haymarket, Va., on a conspiracy to commit bribery charge in connection to a scheme to help a Malaysian contractor get businesses servicing warships. Simpkins was a former senior federal contracting officer for the Navy. Simpkins not be reached for comment.

The arrest comes less than a month after the case's central figure, Leonard Glenn Francis, pleaded guilty to buying off U.S. military officials with everything from cash, prostitutes and luxury travel.

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The complaint alleges that Simpkins accepted several hundred thousand dollars in cash and wire transfers, travel and the services of prostitutes in exchange for steering lucrative Navy contracts to GDMA.