KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — A Malaysian contractor dubbed “Fat Leonard” plied US Navy officers with prostitutes on a rotating carousel in parties described as a “Bacchanalia” to extract military secrets from them, according to sordid details from the case.
The Washington Post reported snippets from the trial involving Malaysian Leonard Glenn Francis, otherwise known as Fat Leonard, that gave a lurid account of the depravity involving the military men and so-called “SEAL teams” of prostitutes he engaged to entertain them.
The phrase SEAL Team refers to the elite special forces branch of the US Navy.
Citing from transcripts of the trial, the paper quoted a planning officer on the Navy’s second-oldest active vessel, USS Blue Ridge, as thanking Francis for throwing a marathon sex party in 2007.
The event lasted 36 hours and featured numerous prostitutes, an endless flow of expensive liquor and high-end cigars, and was held at a luxury hotel in Manila, Philippines.
“I finally detoxed myself from Manila,” Commander Stephen Shedd, the 7th Fleet planning officer, allegedly said in an email to Francis a week after the Bacchanalia.
“That was a crazy couple of days. It’s been a while since I’ve done 36 hours of straight drinking!!!” Shedd wrote.
Prosecutors from the trial also accused Francis of hiring a team of prostitutes who were then placed on a “rotating carousel” at the party for invitees to choose like morsels.
The Navy men also swapped the prostitutes around after they were done with their initial picks.
For this particular “raging multi-day party”, Francis reportedly spent more than US$50,000 (RM194,325).
The report went on to describe Francis’ penchant for importing select high-level prostitutes from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The assembled prostitutes formed what the contractor proudly boasted to be his “elite SEAL teams” that he could deploy to whichever port where the Blue Ridge would call.
He would also treat his targets with expensive gifts for their spouses and paid for a week-long holiday trip to Singapore and Malaysia for one of their families.
According to news reports, Francis, who is currently in a San Diego prison since his arrest in 2013, did all these so he could “prod his moles” on the Blue Ridge to send other aircraft carrier and vessels to ports controlled by his Singapore-based company Glenn Defence Marine Asia.
He also persuaded these officers to divert other US-based vessels to his ports just so he could overcharge for fuel, supplies and other services.
According to the report, the Blue Ridge is dubbed the US Navy’s “floating headquarters in Asia” and it is packed with high-end communication devices that enables the fleet to track and command about 60 warships and submarines around the Pacific and Indian oceans.
The news report said the ship docks in Japan about half the year and plies Asia the other half.
According to Navy standards, the report said, officers were only allowed to accept gifts that are worth US$20 (RM77.76) or less or with a cap of not more than US$50 (RM194.40) a year from one person or entity.
