Venezuela Extradites Corrupt Contractor

Venezuela is extraditing “Fat Leonard” Francis, a former US Navy contractor who bribed military officials. This was done to secure contracts for his company rather than fairly competing for them.

Francis has been on the run since 2022 after cutting his ankle monitor. He was one of tens of contractors and servicemen convicted. Forbes reports:

“Fat Leonard” Francis, a former U.S. Navy defense contractor accused of bribing military officials over the course of nearly a decade, is set to return to U.S. custody as part of a prisoner swap deal with Venezuela—just over one year after he escaped from house arrest in San Diego and fled to South America.

Francis, a Malaysian national, operated Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a defense contracting business in Singapore that provided ship services for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet in Southeast Asia.

In addition to Francis’ extradition, Venezuela released American veterans who had been arrested following a “failed coup.” The coup was relatively well documented, but the US Government denied having authorized it. CNN says:

The release includes all six Americans who were classified as wrongfully detained, including Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore, Joseph Cristella and Savoi Wright, according to a senior administration official.

Luke Denman and Airan Berry are also in the group of 10 Americans who were released from Venezuela, a US official told CNN. The two former Green Berets were jailed in Venezuela in May 2020 for their alleged roles in what Maduro called a “failed coup.” They were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In exchange for these prisoners and fugitives, the Biden Administration released a financier of the the Maduro regime, Alex Saab. This negotiation is within broader US-Venezuelan relations improving.