Government Contracts Monitor

“Be Cautious With Emails” is Good Advice, Especially from a Criminal Defendant Under Arrest Who Allegedly Bribed a Navy Commander

October 24, 2013

In a recent case that received national media attention, a Commander and Captain-select in the U.S. Navy was arrested on an allegation of conspiracy to commit bribery in connection with lucrative port contracts overseas. The case is United States v. Leonard Glenn Francis and Michael Vannek Khem Misiewicz, No. 13-MJ-03457, United States District Court for the Southern District of California (see criminal complaint here).

The complaint alleges that Francis, the CEO of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd (“GDMA”), paid Misiewicz with luxury travel and prostitutes in exchange for confidential information regarding movement of Navy ships and assistance in securing significant husbanding contracts in overseas ports. Husbanding is a lucrative business that involves such services as providing tugboats, port authority/customs fees, security, provisions, fuel, water, trash removal, and other services for Navy ships.

The complaint presents a series of damaging e-mails that detail the alleged bribery scheme. According to the complaint, Francis targeted Misiewicz as someone “who might be susceptible to providing favor to GDMA in return for things of value.” The gifts started with tickets to see the Lion King in Tokyo. The gifts got increasingly non-family friendly after that, with allegations of escorts being provided. Francis also paid for Misiewicz’s family members to attend a family wedding in Cambodia, and also paid for luxury hotels in Singapore, and a Lady Gaga concert in Thailand.

Misiewicz allegedly provided information on Navy ship movement schedules in an effort to provide Francis with the inside track to receive husbanding contracts. For example, in September 2012, Misiewicz sent Francis a confidential list of anticipated port visits for the upcoming six-month period. In connection with one ship’s docking in a port controlled by Francis, Misiewicz allegedly wrote “See, you ask – I deliver LOL.” The port visit related to that e-mail cost the Navy $1.3 million. The complaint also alleged several other Navy ships that were directed to Francis’s ports at significant cost to the Navy.

According to the complaint, Francis and Misiewicz sent multiple e-mails to each other, with Francis calling himself “Big Brother,” “Big Bro,” or “Bro,” and Misiewicz calling himself “Little Brother,” “Little Bro,” or “LB.” Misiewicz also created a personal e-mail account to communicate with Francis. In one e-mail, Misiewicz accidentally cc’d Francis on an official Navy e-mail. Francis responded “Brother you must have copied me by mistake on your internal e-mails. I don’t think they noticed. Stay calm we are ok. Just remove me in the next e-mail as my name is clustered with the rest. Be cautious with e-mails. Take care, Bro.”

Be cautious with e-mails, indeed. That’s a lesson we can all learn from this case. The defendants are pending trial. Further updates will be provided regarding the outcome of the case.

Brian Stolarz is the attorney responsible for the content of this article.