KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 14): Malaysian national Leonard Glenn Francis, a military contractor better known as Fat Leonard may soon be extradited to the US by Venezuela to face sentencing for masterminding the worst public corruption scandal in US Navy history, according to American journalist Tom Wright.
In a tweet on Tuesday (Dec 13), Wright said Fat Leonard escaped from home detention in San Diego and was rearrested in Venezuela, trying to get to Russia.
He said the US dodged a bullet as Leonard, a contractor who ran a multi-year corruption scam at the heart of the US Navy, has all kinds of dirt, including sexual kompromat involving admirals.
The journalist said the US doesn't recognise Venezuela's government, which has complicated extradition proceedings.
He said it's probably why Leonard chose to flee to Russia via Venezuela in the first place.
“However, he got unlucky. US-Venezuelan relations are thawing: the US recently eased sanctions on Venezuelan oil and the Biden administration engaged in a prisoner swap involving relations of President Nicolas Maduro.
“We're hearing these developments mean Leonard could soon be sent back to the US Venezuela's top court in October gave the US until Dec 19 to formally request his extradition,” said Wright.