Leonard Glenn Francis, the Malaysian contractor known as “Fat Leonard” at the center of the worst bribery and corruption scheme in U.S. Navy history, must serve the remainder of his 15-year prison sentence, according to an appeals court ruling that became official Monday. The 61-year-old Francis , who pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to charges related to bribery and defrauding the United States out of at least $35 million, appealed his sentence last year. He argued in part that U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino violated his Fifth Amendment rights and abused her discretion in November 2024 when she handed down a sentence that was 40 months longer than what prosecutors recommended. Last month, just nine days after hearing oral arguments, a three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed Francis’ sentence. In a concise five-page memorandum, the panel ruled that Sammartino had a reasoned basis for crafting the sentence the way she did, that she appropriately weighed Francis’ health issues against other sentencing factors and that she did not violate his Fifth Amendment rights. Francis had the opportunity to ask a larger panel of 9th Circuit judges to reconsider the case, but a deadline to make that request passed and the smaller panel’s ruling officially went into effect Monday, essentially closing the appeal. An attorney for Francis did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego declined to comment. A brash con man whose enormous size inspired his nickname, Francis was sentenced in November 2024 on charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. out of at least $35 million. He was also sentenced for a conviction of failure to appear in connection with his 2022 escape from house arrest that sparked an international manhunt. The Malaysian contractor admitted that he spent decades bribing a rotating cast of officers from the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific, showering them with lavish dinners, luxury hotel rooms, top-shelf liquor, prostitutes and cash. In turn, those officers steered ships to the Southeast Asian ports controlled by Francis and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Francis then charged the Navy heavily inflated prices for his firm’s services, such as security, tugboats, food, water replenishment and trash removal. Federal authorities arrested Francis in 2013 during a sting operation in San Diego. Within weeks, he began cooperating with the government and soon became the key witness in a massive investigation of some 1,000 Navy personnel and the federal prosecution of 36 total defendants, most of them Navy officers who took his bribes. Francis and his company pleaded guilty in 2015, but his sentencing was repeatedly delayed over the years as he continued helping prosecutors with the sprawling case. Sammartino released Francis on a medical furlough in 2018, but just weeks before he was set to finally be sentenced in September 2022, he fled the country. He eventually spent 14 months in a Venezuelan prison before being traded back to the U.S. as part of a prisoner swap. In his appeal, Francis argued that he was unjustly sentenced to a longer prison term than any of his co-defendants despite federal rules meant to limit large disparities when judges issue sentences in multi-defendant cases. But the 9th Circuit judges ruled his sentence was not disproportionate to those of his co-defendants because “Francis was the ‘mastermind’ of the entire operation, and he fled the country prior to his original sentencing date.” Francis also argued on appeal that Sammartino did not give enough consideration to his ailing health nor properly credit him for his cooperation, which prosecutors described as unprecedented. “The district court appropriately weighed Francis’s medical needs against the other sentencing factors in making its determination,” the 9th Circuit panel ruled. “That it did not afford those medical needs as much weight as Francis would prefer does not render the district court’s analysis an abuse of discretion.” The appeals judges also wrote that while the law required Sammartino to give “substantial weight” to Francis’ cooperation, “that does not bind the district court to the government’s sentencing recommendation.” During the sentencing hearing, Sammartino expressed concerns about the lack of answers and accountability related to Francis’ absconding from house arrest in 2022. “Neither you nor the government have explained how that escape occurred,” she said at the time. In his appeal, Francis pointed to that remark as a violation of his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. But the 9th Circuit judges disagreed, writing that the meaning of Sammartino’s statement was ambiguous and thus no plain violation of his rights occurred. Given the time Francis has already spent in prison and the credit he received for periods spent in custody dating back to his 2013 arrest, he has roughly five years left on his sentence. The Federal Bureau of Prisons currently estimates his release date to be in December 2030. ...read more read less