A U.S. Navy officer went before a federal judge Wednesday and admitted that he accepted cash, hotel expenses and the services of a prostitute in exchange for providing classified U.S. Navy ship schedules and other internal Navy information to an executive of a defense contracting firm.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Todd Dale Malaki, 44, will be formally sentenced July 6 in San Diego. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Malaki admitted that in 2006, while he was working as a supply officer for the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, he began a corrupt relationship with Leonard Glenn Francis, the former president and CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a company that provided services to the U.S. Navy.
Malaki provided Francis with classified U.S. Navy ship schedules and proprietary invoicing information about GDMA's competitors. In exchange, Francis — known as "Fat Leonard" — provided him with luxury hotel stays in Singapore, Hong Kong and the island of Tonga, as well as envelopes of cash, entertainment expenses and the services of a prostitute, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Malaki admitted that the total value of the benefits he received was about $15,000.
He is the eighth person to plead guilty in the expanding probe into corruption and fraud in the U.S Navy.
"Another Navy officer has now pleaded guilty and admitted to taking bribes to reveal classified military information to a major supplier," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell.
"It is both troubling and disappointing how many Navy officers we have exposed as willingly falling prey to GDMA's corruption, and our investigation remains active and ongoing," Caldwell said. "Those who serve in our nation's military must uphold the public's trust or pay the consequences for their crimes."
