U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Dan Layug admitted Tuesday to accepting $10,000 in cash, travel and a "bucket list" of video games and gadgets from a foreign defense contractor in exchange for providing classified information.
Layug, 27, talked quietly with his attorney in the spectator section of Federal Magistrate Judge Karen Crawford’s courtroom this morning, before his 9:30 a.m. hearing.
Layug’s attorney was seen explaining the implications of the guilty plea to her client, before he actually admitted to the Magistrate that he had been part of a bribery ring that prosecutors say wrongly enriched a company that provides logistics services to the Navy.
Layug, who was dressed in blue jeans and tennis shoes, admitted he sent a "bucket list" to the contractor and accepted a $1,000 a month allowance, plus luxury hotel stays for himself and others in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Thailand, according to court documents.
Among the items he asked for, and received, were an iPad 3, a Nikon digital camera, a Blackberry, a VAIO computer, a PSP gaming unit and a Wii gaming unit, prosecutors said.
He acknowledged that he faces up to five years in federal custody and a $250,000 fine when sentenced.
That sentencing is scheduled for September 2, before U.S. Federal Judge Marilyn Huff.
"In taking these under-the-table bribes, Layug put his own financial interests above those of the Navy and the country he vowed to serve," said Acting Assistant Attorney General O'Neil.
Layug was assigned to the U.S. Navy Fleet Logistics Center in Japan, at the time of the alleged bribery crimes.
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Before that, he was assigned to USS Blue Ridge.
Federal prosecutors allege that Leonard Francis, owner and CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) and his cousin, Alex Wisidigama, overcharged the Navy for more than $20 million in services.
They claim GDMA enlisted Navy personnel to send the company classified ship schedules.
Those charged in the investigation include Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, Commander Jose Luis Sanchez, Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent John Beliveau and Layug.
Layug is the sixth defendant charged and the third to plead guilty.
In March, Wisidigama pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Beliveau accepted terms of a plea agreement in December 2013.
