On Monday, former four-star Navy Adm. Robert Burke was convicted guilty of bribery charges relating to a plot to direct government contracts to his future company, marking a huge judicial triumph for DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
After a five-day trial, Burke, who was the vice chief of naval operations for a portion of President Trump’s first term, was found guilty of conspiracy to conduct bribery, bribery, performing acts that affected a personal financial interest, and concealing material facts from the US.
Burke, the senior-most member of the US military to be convicted of a federal felony, was once the second-highest-ranking commander in the Navy.
In a statement following the verdict, Pirro stated, “When you misuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent. Our office, with our law enforcement partners, will root out corruption – be it bribes or illegal contracts – and hold accountable the perpetrators, no matter what title or rank they hold.”
Last May, Burke, 63, was charged in the case that was looked into by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
He was charged with collecting a $500,000 annual salary and 100,000 stock options from his co-conspirators, Meghan Messenger and Yongchul “Charlie” Kim, in return for using his Navy admiral status to funnel a federal contract to a company identified in the indictment as “Company A”.
The Justice Department claims that Kim and Messenger, co-CEOs of “Company A,” contacted Burke several times between 2019 and 2022 regarding the status of a government contract, even after the Navy cautioned them not to do so.
Before Company A’s contract with the Navy was canceled in late 2019, the company had trained a tiny portion of the Navy’s workers from August 2018 to July 2019.
“Despite the Navy’s instructions, [Kim and Messenger] met with Burke in Washington, D.C., in July 2021, to reestablish Company A’s business relationship with the Navy,” according to the DOJ.
The three agreed to the bribery plan during that meeting, which involved Burke using his influence over Navy officials to give Company A a more lucrative contract before to his retirement and accepting the prearranged position with the company run by Kim and Messenger.
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According to reports, Kim calculated the prospective contract’s value to be “triple-digit millions.”
Burke gave his staff instructions in December 2021 to give Company A a $355,000 contract to educate his command’s soldiers in Italy and Spain. Prior to his retirement, Burke elevated Company A to a senior Navy admiral.
However, after Burke resigned, the company was unable to secure another contract with the Navy.
In August, Burke’s sentencing hearing is set to take place, concurrently with Kim and Messenger’s bribery trial.
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The retired admiral could be imprisoned for up to 30 years.
“We’re disappointed with the verdict, but we are planning to appeal – and I think that there’s a viable appeal here,” Burke’s attorney, Timothy Parlatore stated.
Parlatore argues that Burke’s “more than two-hour interview” with law enforcement, of which the DC US Attorney’s Office “played less than two minutes of,” was among the evidence that the jury “did not get to hear.”
Burke told investigators, “The judge didn’t let the jury hear the whole thing, so they didn’t really get the context,” Parlatore said.
The attorney went on to scold the investigators, saying, “The real black eye is on the Pentagon here. DCIS [and] NCIS are two investigative agencies that are largely stocked with imbeciles, with little training, no ethics, no leadership, no adult supervision, and we allow them to destroy people’s lives.”
