Commander of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet Stephen Shedd pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from a Singaporean defense contractor. He and eight other high-ranking military officers received bribes in luxurious dinners, travel and hotel expenses and the services of prostitutes.
According to the US Department of Justice, Stephen Shedd and eight commanders of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet were charged with bribery in March 2017.
According to the investigation, from 2006 to 2014, they received more than $250,000 in expensive restaurant bills, travel and hotel expenses, gifts and prostitutes from defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis, head of Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).
The overarching bribery investigation into Seventh Fleet Command and Francis in 2013 has resulted in criminal charges against 34 US Navy officials, defense contractors and the GDMA corporation. So far, 28 of those have pleaded guilty.
GDMA Corporation served US Navy ships in Asian ports for about 25 years.
The defendants admitted that they received millions of dollars from Francis in exchange for concluding state contracts with his company for the maintenance of ships at an inflated cost.
The damage to the state amounted to over $35 million.
The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet is located in the Western Pacific and Eastern Indian Ocean. The fleet is comprised of 60-70 ships, 200-300 aircraft and approximately 40,000 sailors.
