In a case with distinct echoes of the Navy’s almost decade-long “Fat Leonard” scandal, a former U.S. Navy director was convicted for his role in a bribery conspiracy and for lying to federal officials, according to authorities.
Stars and Stripes reports that Fernando Xavier Monroy, who worked as the director of operations of the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command Office in Busan, South Korea, was convicted of engaging in a conspiracy to commit bribery with a South Korea-based company, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Monroy conspired with a civilian captain of a Navy ship and a business owner to direct business to DK Marine, a company that provided services for the U.S. Navy, according to prosecutors. The scheme focused on when the Navy ship was scheduled for a port visit to Chinhae, South Korea in late 2013.
In exchange for “steering” Navy business toward DK Marine during the visit, Monroy was given bribes by a co-conspirator, including cash, personal travel expenses, meals, alcoholic beverages and prostitution services, the release said.
Investigators accuse DK Marine’s owner, Sun Yol Kim, of paying for “‘room salons,’ where the services of prostitutes could be hired,” for Monroy at least 10 times, according to Military Times.
Monroy is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18 and faces up to 15 years in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
This case is not the only recent corruption and bribery charges involving U.S. Navy contracting. In September 2021, Frank Rafaraci, 69, the chief executive of Multinational Logistics Services (MLS), a major U.S. Navy contractor, was arrested on the Mediterranean island of Malta and accused of bribing US Navy officials.
MLS played a key role in U.S. Navy operations worldwide, having been awarded about $1.3 billion in contracts to service U.S. warships in foreign ports since 2010. The Navy stopped doing business with MLS after Rafaraci’s arrest.
“Investigators accuse DK Marine’s owner, Sun Yol Kim, of paying for ‘room salons,’ where the services of prostitutes could be hired, for Monroy at least 10 times…”
The attitude towards the sex industry in Korea is different than in the US, for sure. Room salons, coffee girls, massage parlors – this stuff is EVERYWHERE, not segregated in a red-light district (although there are those, too). Underage prostitution is terribly common, too – girls in elite high schools picking up a little spending money, I was told. Many Korean wives (whom I taught English to) take it for granted that their husbands will, hmm, indulge.
You can imagine how this atmosphere acts on ordinary straight men from America and elsewhere, right? I mean, the stories I heard, jeepers. As a gay man who wanted to keep my job – homophobia is pretty rife in Korea – I kept my distance from the sexual underworld, but I will admit, I would listen to my colleagues if they wanted to talk. 😏