A U.S. Navy Captain was sentenced Friday to 78 months in prison for taking cash, travel expenses, concert and theater tickets, and the services of prostitutes from a Singapore-based defense contractor.
In exchange for the bribes, Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, 49, gave the contractor — Glenn Defense Marine Asia — classified U.S. Navy information, including ship schedules with information about the Navy’s ballistic missile defense operations in the Pacific.
Misiewicz, 49, of San Diego, had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery.
Federal Judge Janis Sammartino of the Southern District of California also fined Misiewicz $100,000 and ordered him to forfeit $95,000 in bribes.
While Misiewicz served as deputy director of operations for the Navy’s 7th Fleet, he gave the classified information to Leonard Glenn Francis, the CEO and owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia or GDMA.
GDMA provided food, fuel, and cleaning services to U.S. Navy ships and submarines at ports throughout the Pacific.
Francis — a Malaysian citizen known as Fat Leonard — gave Misiewicz cash, paid for luxury travel at least eight times, gave his wife a designer handbag, and supplied Misiewicz with prostitutes.
The gifts included tickets to a Lady Gaga concert in Thailand and a theater performance of “The Lion King” in Japan.
The Washington Post described the relationship between Misiewicz and Fat Leonard this way:
They called each other Big Bro and Little Bro, which summed things up in more ways than one. Francis, the elder by a few years, is a giant of a man, standing over 6 feet tall and weighing 350 pounds. Misiewicz looks about half his size.
Both were married, middle-aged men with young children at home. But they loved to go clubbing together at port cities throughout Asia, staying out until dawn as they conspired how to avoid detection for their carousing and their crimes.
Misiewicz is one of ten individuals charged in the case. Nine of them have now pleaded guilty.
They include U.S. Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek, Lieutenant Commander Todd Malaki, NCIS Special Agent John Beliveau, Commander Jose Luis Sanchez, and U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Dan Layug.
Former Department of Defense civilian employee Paul Simpkins awaits trial.
In January this year, Layug was sentenced to 27 months in prison and Malaki was sentenced to 40 months in prison.
In March, Alex Wisidagama, a Singaporean who worked for GDMA, was sentenced to 63 months and ordered to pay $34.8 million in restitution to the Navy.
Also in March, Capt. Dusek was sentenced to 46 months in prison.
The others await sentencing.
Three rear admirals including the commander of naval forces in Japan announced their retirements in early 2015 after the Secretary of the Navy censured them for the bribery scandal.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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