SAN DIEGO, Nov 6 — Leonard Francis, the Malaysian military contractor known as "Fat Leonard,” was sentenced to 15 years in prison on yesterday for his role in the US Navy’s worst ever corruption scandal.

Francis, 60, was also ordered to pay $20 million in restitution to the US Navy by a federal judge in San Diego and to forfeit $35 million in ill-gotten gains, the US Attorney’s office for the Southern District of California said in a statement.

Francis, who ran a military contracting company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, out of Singapore, was arrested in 2013.

He pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering bribes to naval officers to steer work to his shipyards in Asia-Pacific ports, then overcharging the navy to the tune of $35 million.

According to court documents, Francis handed out more than $500,000 in cash bribes and provided prostitutes, first class travel, luxury hotel stays and lavish meals to naval officers, along with expensive gifts like designer handbags and watches.

Francis had been scheduled to be sentenced in September 2022, but he cut off a GPS ankle bracelet he was wearing while under house arrest and fled to Venezuela.

He was returned to the United States from Venezuela in December 2023 in a prisoner swap between the two countries.

As part of a plea agreement, Francis provided government investigators with detailed information which led to the conviction of a number of high-ranking US Navy officers. — AFP