WASHINGTON, July 14 — Former  defence contractor Leonard Glenn Francis is reportedly seeking clemency from US President Donald Trump as he serves a 15-year sentence for bribery and fraud in the US Navy’s largest corruption scandal.

The Washington Post reported today that Francis, better known as “Fat Leonard”, said he was seeking a pardon or a reduction of his sentence partly because he has Stage 4 kidney cancer and fears he may not live until his scheduled release in late 2030.

Francis, a Malaysian citizen, reportedly said he had paid only US$5 million (about RM20 million) of the US$35 million he agreed to forfeit to the US government under his plea deal. 

Francis had agreed to surrender the money after admitting in court that his Singapore-based company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, had overcharged the Navy.

However, he reportedly claimed that mounting legal costs and the expense of lobbying for clemency had left him unable to pay the remaining US$30 million.

The White House reportedly told the Post that it was not aware of Francis’s purported request and said Trump would make the final decision on any clemency action.

In another report on Sunday, the Post said Francis claimed he escaped house arrest in San Diego in September 2022 by cutting off his electronic ankle monitor while his private security guard was away.

Francis said he used a Malaysian passport obtained on his behalf from the Malaysian consulate in Los Angeles to cross into Mexico, before boarding a chartered aircraft from Tijuana to Cuba.

He later travelled to Venezuela, where he was arrested and held before being returned to US custody 15 months after his escape under a prisoner exchange.

Francis also claimed that then Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro had demanded payments from him during his detention, further depleting his finances.

“I had to pay Maduro for his hospitality,” he said, declining to disclose the amount.

Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing Navy personnel with gifts, luxury accommodation and other inducements in exchange for confidential information and assistance with contracts worth about US$200 million.

A US judge found in 2022 that prosecutors had withheld evidence during the trial of five Navy officers, leading the Justice Department to drop felony charges against 10 defendants implicated in the scandal.

The Post reported that Francis is the only one of 40 people prosecuted or court-martialled over the case who remains behind bars.