Three rear admirals in the U.S. Navy were reprimanded for wrongdoing in a Navy bribery scandal but will not face charges, a Navy statement said.
One of the men who received career-ending letters of censure was the former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy.
Commander of Carrier Strike Group 7 on USS Ronald Reagain Rear Admiral Michael Miller received a letter of censure along with Rear Admiral Terry Kraft, who was commanding officer on the same ship, and Rear Admiral David Pimpo, who once served as supply officer of the aircraft carrier, a Navy statement said.
The three showed "poor judgment and a failure of leadership" by improperly accepting gifts from a "prohibited source" while they were deployed in 2006-2007, the Navy said.
Two of those officers improperly endorsed a commercial business and one was found to have solicited gifts.
The case stems from an ongoing federal probe into bribery and fraud involving Navy contracts for port services in southeast Asia.
Leonard Glenn Francis, known as "Fat Leonard," the President and Chief Executive Officer of GDMA, pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery for his role in a widespread scandal that has infiltrated the highest ranks of the U.S. Navy.
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Federal prosecutors say Francis obtained classified information that allowed his firm to overbill the military at least $20 million for port services such as food, fuel and garbage disposal.
Navy investigators and attorneys with the Department of Justice have said there are more targets involved in the bribery ring. Francis and his co-conspirators exchanged luxury travel, prostitutes, lavish meals, top-shelf alcohol, designer handbags, fountain pens, Kobe beef, Spanish suckling pigs and Cuban cigars for ship assignments and other confidential military information.
The solicitation and acceptance of these gifts as well as the inappropriately familiar exchange with Francis created an unethical climate within the respective commands, the statement said.
The Secretarial Letters of Censure were issued to the sailors by the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus for violating ethical standards by improperly accepting gifts, the statement said.
Miller is a special assistant to the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy according to the Associated Press.
Kraft now commands U.S. naval forces in Japan.
Pimpo now commands Naval Supply Systems Command Weapons Systems Support.
Kraft and Pimp have sent in requests to retire. The Navy will process those requests in addition to a previously submitted retirement request from Miller.
The White House has stated fraud in military contracts will not be tolerated.
The most recent arrest in the case was a former civilian employee of the Department of Defense who was in charge of securing contracts with private industry vendors.
