Retired U.S. Navy admiral charged in bribery scheme with tech CEOs

A retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral, who was as soon as the navy department’s second-highest-ranking officer, was arrested on Friday for a bribery scheme with two tech CEOs, the Department of Justice introduced.

From 2020 to 2022, Robert Burke, a 62-year-old resident of Coconut Creek, Fla., allegedly used his high-ranking standing within the Navy to assist Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, the co-CEOs of New York-based office tech platform Subsequent Soar, win navy contracts, based on the DOJ.

In 2021, Burke allegedly informed his workers to award Kim and Messenger a $355,000 navy contract. In change, Kim and Messenger allegedly promised Burke employment at their firm sooner or later.

In 2022, Burke began working as a senior companion at Subsequent Soar with a beginning annual wage of $500,000 and 100,000 inventory choices, the DOJ mentioned.

“Admiral Burke disputes these costs,” Burke’s legal professional Timothy Parlatore informed CNBC on Saturday. “We shall be demanding a trial the place we anticipate that he shall be discovered not responsible.”

Parlatore confirmed that Subsequent Soar was awarded a $355,000 navy contract and that Burke later went on to work for Subsequent Soar for $500,000 a 12 months. However whether or not one alleged was a bribe for the opposite, he mentioned, “Completely not.”

Burke faces a most sentence of 30 years in jail, whereas Kim and Messenger every face 20 years.

Based on Parlatore, Burke solely labored at Subsequent Soar for a few months and left the group partly resulting from “persona conflicts.”

Attorneys for Messenger and Kim didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark despatched outdoors enterprise hours.

Burke’s arraignment shall be coordinated on Monday, Parlatore mentioned, and over the subsequent a number of weeks, he’ll seem in Washington D.C. courtroom to plead not responsible.

The DOJ’s costs towards Burke come weeks after a federal choose dismissed felony convictions towards five military officers concerned in what a senior administration official beforehand referred to as “one of the brazen bribery conspiracies within the U.S. Navy’s historical past.”

That bribery scheme centered round former protection contractor Leonard Francis, often known as “Fat Leonard,” who allegedly gave navy officers luxurious presents like Cuban cigars and Kobe beef in change for confidential navy info.

5 officers had pleaded responsible to accepting Francis’ bribes, however on Could 21, their felony convictions have been dropped resulting from DOJ prosecutorial errors.

The dismissals stained an extended saga of the DOJ’s effort to carry these concerned in Francis’ scheme to account.

Although the Fats Leonard scheme shouldn’t be instantly linked to Burke’s case, Parlatore side-eyed the DOJ’s timing in bringing Burke’s bribery costs.

“Within the rapid wake of the Fats Leonard convictions being thrown out resulting from DOJ misconduct, the timing does appear a bit curious,” he mentioned. “It does strike me as any individual at DOJ saying, ‘Hey, maintain my beer.'”