Whiskey, Kobe beef and suckling pig: inside the ‘Fat Leonard’ navy bribery scandal

Leonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard”, skipped house arrest on Monday and has, in all probability, crossed the US-Mexico border and is trying to make his way to Asia.

Francis, who was due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to a decades-long military contractor fraud scheme, has left behind a headache for the US navy, and for the military broadly, in mounting foreign operations.

At 350 pounds, Francis merited the name “Fat Leonard”. But he was also known in navy circles as “Leonard the Legend”, and as the man who seduced the 7th Fleet by systematically greasing the wheels with corrupt bonhomie.