World Courant
Retired Navy Admiral Robert Burke.
Courtesy: US Navy
A retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral who was as soon as the navy department’s second-highest officer was arrested Friday in reference to a bribery scheme involving two tech CEOs, the Division of Justice introduced.
From 2020 to 2022, Robert Burke, a 62-year-old resident of Coconut Creek, Florida, allegedly used his excessive standing within the Navy to assist Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, the co-CEOs of New York, primarily based office expertise platform Subsequent Leap, in response to the DOJ, wins navy contracts.
In 2021, Burke reportedly instructed his employees to award Kim and Messenger a $355,000 navy contract. In return, Kim and Messenger allegedly promised Burke a job at their firm sooner or later.
In 2022Burke started working as a senior companion at Subsequent Leap with a beginning wage of $500,000 and 100,000 inventory choices, the DOJ mentioned.
“Admiral Burke disputes these allegations,” Burke’s legal professional Timothy Parlatore instructed CNBC on Saturday. “We’ll demand a trial the place we count on he might be discovered not responsible.”
Parlatore confirmed that Subsequent Leap was awarded a $355,000 navy contract and that Burke later went to work for Subsequent Leap for $500,000 a 12 months. However as as to if one alleged it was a bribe for the opposite, he mentioned: “Completely not.”
Burke faces a most jail sentence of 30 years, whereas Kim and Messenger every face 20 years.
Based on Parlatore, Burke solely labored at Subsequent Leap for just a few months and left the group partly attributable to “character conflicts.”
Attorneys for Messenger and Kim didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched after hours.
Burke’s arraignment might be coordinated Monday, Parlatore mentioned, and he’ll seem in court docket in Washington, D.C., within the coming weeks to plead his innocence.
The DOJ’s fees towards Burke come weeks after a federal choose dismissed the felony convictions 5 navy officers concerned in what a senior authorities official beforehand known as “some of the brazen bribery conspiracies within the historical past of the U.S. Navy.”
That bribery scheme revolved round former protection contractor Leonard Francis, also called “Fats Leonard,” who allegedly gave navy officers luxurious presents comparable to Cuban cigars and Kobe beef in trade for confidential navy data.
5 officers had pleaded responsible to accepting Francis’ bribes, however on Might 21 their misdemeanor convictions had been vacated attributable to prosecutorial errors by the DOJ.
The firings tarnished a protracted story of the DOJ’s efforts to carry accountable these concerned in Francis’ plan.
Though the Fats Leonard scheme is just not straight associated to Burke’s case, Parlatore side-eyed the DOJ’s timing in submitting Burke’s bribery fees.
“Within the fast aftermath of Fats Leonard’s convictions being thrown out attributable to DOJ misconduct, the timing appears a bit curious,” he mentioned. “It sounds to me like somebody at DOJ is saying, ‘Hey, maintain on to my beer.'”
Retired US Navy admiral accused of bribery scheme involving tech CEOs
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