Former US Pacific Fleet public affairs director sentenced in navy’s never-ending fraud case

A former US Navy director of public affairs for the US Pacific Fleet was sentenced to six months for helping foreign defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis embezzle the US Navy out of millions of dollars.

Captain Jeffrey Breslau was sentenced for secretly moonlighting as a paid public relations consultant for Leonard Glenn Francis and was was also fined $20,000, ordered to perform 250 hours of community service, and pay $65,000 in restitution to the navy.

$65,000 is the amount Francis paid the navy captain for insider advice that helped the contractor build a business empire that cost the navy tens of millions of dollars.

According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Breslau authored emails and provided talking points for Francis to create relationships with five navy admirals and win or maintain lucrative navy contracts for his Singapore-based ship husbanding company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA).

Breslau was charged in September 2018 and pleaded guilty in November to one count of criminal conflict of interest, admitting that while he was still employed by the US Navy, Francis paid him more than $65,000 for the public relations consulting services.

Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribery and fraud charges, admitting that he presided over a massive, decade-long conspiracy involving scores of US Navy officials, tens of millions of dollars in fraud and millions of dollars in bribes and lavish gifts, including luxury travel, airline upgrades, five-star hotel accommodations, top-shelf alcohol, the services of prostitutes, Cuban cigars, Kobe beef, and Spanish suckling pigs.

“Breslau was secretly advocating for Leonard Francis behind the backs of his Navy colleagues,” said US Attorney Robert S. Brewer Jr. “Breslau’s deceit was part of an astounding culture of corruption that has been exposed and eliminated as a result of this historic investigation.”

According to admissions made as part of his guilty plea, from October 2009 until July 2012, Breslau was a Captain in the US Navy assigned as Director of Public Affairs for the US Pacific Fleet, headquartered in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. As part of his duties, Breslau was involved in devising the US Navy’s public affairs communications strategy, and provided public affairs guidance to Pacific Fleet components and other US Navy commands. From August 2012 until July 2014, Breslau was assigned to the Commanding Officer for the Joint Public Affairs Support Element in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was responsible for leading joint crisis communications teams.

Breslau is the 18th current or former US Navy official to plead guilty in the expansive corruption and fraud investigation involving Francis and GDMA. So far, 33 defendants have been charged in the US and 22 have pleaded guilty.