Source: NBC News
“The felony convictions of four former Navy officers in one of the worst bribery cases in the maritime branch’s history were vacated Wednesday following allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, the latest setback to the government’s yearslong efforts in going after dozens of military officials tied to a defense contractor nicknamed Fat Leonard. U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino called the misconduct ‘outrageous’ and agreed to allow the four men to plead guilty to a misdemeanor and pay a $100 fine each. … Sammartino had ruled the lead federal prosecutor committed ‘flagrant misconduct’ by withholding information from defense lawyers but said at the time that it was not enough to dismiss the case. … The officers — former Capts. David Newland, James Dolan and David Lausman and former Cmdr. Mario Herrera — were previously convicted by a federal jury on various counts of accepting bribes from foreign defense contractor Leonard Francis, and his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, or GDMA.” (09/07/23)