A retired Navy officer has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $150,000 for his role in the far-reaching “Fat Leonard” scandal.
Capt. Jesus Vasquez Cantu has become the latest official to be sentenced on bribery charges in the wake of the investigation of Malaysian businessman Leonard Glenn Francis, better known as “Fat Leonard,” and his ship husbanding company Glenn Defense Marine Asia.
Cantu's case has gone on for years, and the 64-year-old accepted a plea deal in exchange for a guilty plea in 2017. Prosecutors said that his involvement in the affair began in 2007 when Cantu was the assistant chief of staff for logistics for 7th Fleet aboard the command ship USS Blue Ridge.
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At the time, Cantu was still a fairly junior officer, but he took after Navy Capts. James Dolan, David Lausman, David Newland and others who would go on to be convicted of accepting bribes from Francis.
“Cantu and other members of the conspiracy accepted more than $135,000 in meals, entertainment, travel and hotel expenses, and the services of prostitutes from Francis; in exchange, they worked together to help Francis as issues important to his business arose,” prosecutors said in a statement in 2017.
According to court documents, Cantu eventually returned to the Pacific in 2012 as a more senior officer and eager to renew the relationship with Francis and…
