Americas News
Navy Officer Pleads Guilty in GDMA Scandal
One of the U.S. Navy officers implicated in a major bribery and fraud scandal pleaded guilty Tuesday, Fox News reports.
John Beliveau II, a senior Navy criminal investigator, entered a guilty plea to bribery charges in a San Diego federal court and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years.
"I'm here to do the right thing, and that's what I did today," he said after the hearing.
Beliveau admitted to leaking information to Leonard Glenn Francis, head of Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd. (GDMA), about a multi-year fraud investigation into the contractor in exchange for plane tickets, hotels, and prostitutes.
Beliveau also acknowledged giving Francis detailed advice about the investigation and sharing confidential files and witnesses' names with him.
His attorney declined to say whether he would assist in the continuing investigation.
"This isn't only bad news for Leonard Glenn Francis, but I suspect there are a number of yet unnamed Navy people who are (and should be) worried," Michael T. Corgan, a Boston University international relations instructor, told Fox News.
"Something of the scope that this scandal embraces didn't happen without a reasonably widespread acceptance of bad practice."
Four Navy officers, along with Leonard and another GDMA executive, have been charged in the case, which is estimated to have caused more than $20 million in financial damage.
Beliveau will be sentenced on March 7.
