Recently retired  Rear Adm. Mark C. Montgomery, ex-U.S. Pacific Command Director of Operations, had been nominated by the current administration to be an assistant administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development. His confirmation appeared to be assured after Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings last September. Then in mid-November, the White House notified the Senate that it had withdrawn Montgomery’s nomination. No explanation was given publicly. What happened? The answer is “Fat Leonard.”

Last week, Mark Montgomery received a letter of censure from the Navy after an investigation concluded he had committed graft and taken illicit gifts from Leonard Glenn Francis, aka Fat Leonard. Leonard Francis ran a Singapore-based defense contractor, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, which held more than $200 million worth of contracts to resupply and refuel Navy ships at ports throughout Asia. He pleaded guilty to corruption charges in 2015.

Montgomery is the sixth admiral to receive a censure in the Fat Leonard scandal. Two other admirals have been charged with crimes by the Justice Department. The censure will not result in criminal charges to be filed against Montgomery, but likely torpedoed his nomination in the Trump administration. 

As we posted last August, so far, the Justice Department has filed criminal charges against 32 defendants who worked for the Navy or Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Twenty of the defendants have pleaded guilty in the scandal that cost the Navy at least $35 million over two decades. Another 550 people who had contact with Francis — including about 60 admirals — are under investigation.