OAN Staff James Meyers
10:24 AM – Tuesday, May 20, 2025
A retired four-star U.S. Navy Admiral has been convicted of bribery, as well as multiple conspiracy charges — making him the highest-ranking military member to ever be convicted of committing federal crimes while serving on active duty.
After a five-day trial, retired four-star Adm. Robert P. Burke was found guilty on Monday of leading a scheme to divvy out contracts to a training company in exchange for a $500,000 a year salary job after retiring from the Navy — according to a report from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent,” D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement after the verdict. “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.”
“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,” Pirro continued.
As a result, Burke is now facing up to 30 years in prison for his role in the scheme to direct contracts that were worth upwards of millions of dollars to a New York City-based company that offered training programs to the Navy.
Court documents and evidence at the trial revealed that from 2020 to 2022, Burke was a four-star Admiral who was in charge of U.S. Naval operations in Europe and a large portion of Africa. He was also in charge of thousands of civilian and military members.
Last May, 63-year-old Burke was already being investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Additionally, Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, co-CEOs of a company not named by the DOJ, also allegedly participated in the scheme to receive a government contract — in exchange for offering Burke a position within the company.
The company had been providing training programs for a small portion of the Navy from 2018 to 2019, before they learned that their contract was not being renewed.
Kim and Messenger had also reached out to Burke multiple times between 2019 and 2022 about the status of particular government contracts after being warned by the Navy to not engage in talks with the four-star Admiral, according to the DOJ.
“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.
At that time, the three individuals consented to taking part in the bribery scheme, which Burke leveraged to influence other Navy officers into awarding a more lucrative contract to the unnamed company. This occurred prior to his retirement and subsequent acceptance of a prearranged position with the firm operated by Kim and Messenger.
The estimated value of the contract was reported to be worth “triple-digit millions.”
In December 2021, the 63-year-old Admiral approved a $355,000 contract, awarding the company to train Naval personnel under his command in Italy and Spain. He also made a failed attempt to convince a senior Naval commander to give them yet another contract.
“There was no connection between this contract and his employment. The math just doesn’t make sense that he would give them this relatively small contract for that type of job offer,” Burke’s defense attorney, Timothy Parlatore, previously told Fox News Digital.
In May 2024, both Messenger and Kim were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit bribery –facing up to 20 years in prison.
Parlatore told Fox News Digital that they are “obviously disappointed by the verdict,” but said “this is a result of the fact that the jury did not get to hear the whole story.”
“The investigation was very poorly conducted. It was conducted by the exact same investigator who completely screwed up the Fat Leonard case,” Paralore said.
The “Fat Leonard” case refers to one of the most significant corruption scandals in Navy history, involving Leonard Glenn Francis, a Malaysian defense contractor nicknamed “Fat Leonard” due to his large stature and extravagant lifestyle. Leonard Glenn Francis was the head of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA), a company that provided port services to U.S. Navy ships across the Pacific. Over a decade, Francis bribed dozens of Navy officers with cash, luxury gifts, lavish hotel stays, prostitutes, and other perks in exchange for confidential information and cooperation.
“They didn’t do any research and so you have an incompetent and unethical, corrupt investigator relying upon the word of a known liar, building this terrible case. And ultimately, the only way that they could bring it to a conviction was to only present certain evidence to the jury,” Paralore continued.
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