Retired 4-star Navy admiral charged in bribery scheme with government contractor
May 31 (UPI) -- A retired U.S. Navy admiral was arrested Friday along with two business executives on charges related to a bribery scheme involving a government contract.
Retired four-star Adm. Robert Burke, 62, allegedly used his influence to secure a Navy contract for a workforce training company from 2020 to 2022, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
Yongchul "Charlie" Kim and Meghan Messenger are the co-CEOs of a New York City-based training company called Next Jump. The company provided a workforce training pilot program to a small naval company from August 2018 through July 2019 before the Navy terminated its contract.
Despite the Navy ordering Kim and Messenger not to contact Burke, the three allegedly met in July 2021 in Washington, D.C., in an effort to renew Next Jump's business with the Navy, according to the Justice Department.
The charges alleged the three parties agreed Burke would use his authority to influence other Navy officers to award another contract to Next Jump to train a larger naval company, with a value Kim allegedly estimated was in the "triple digit millions."
While serving as the Navy's top officer in Europe in 2021, Burke allegedly ordered his staff to award the company a $355,000 contract to train personnel under his command in Italy and Spain.
After Next Jump performed the training in 2022, Burke tried and failed to convince a senior admiral to award the company another contract. He allegedly made several false statements to the Navy to create the appearance that he had no role in issuing the pervious contract.
Burke began working at Next Jump in October 2022 with a starting salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options, according to the Justice Department. He allegedly told the Navy that employment discussions between the company and him only began months after the contract was awarded.
Burke is charged with bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, performing acts to affect a personal financial interest and concealing material facts. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Kim and Messenger face charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery. They both face up to 20 years if convicted.
Burke made his first appearance in court Friday in Florida and is expected to be arraigned in Washington, D.C., shortly after, his lawyer Timothy Parlatore told USNI News.
He has pleaded not guilty.
"The biggest problem with this indictment is the timeline," Parlatore said. "The DOJ wrongly believes that there was a job offer and job agreement far earlier than there was. There is no quid pro quo, no job for contracts whatsoever ... It looks odd he did later go work for them but he did not get into serious contract negotiations until the appropriate time and with the appropriate permissions."
Burke assumed the role of the Navy's 40th vice chief of naval operations in June 2019. He also was a senior naval adviser to the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations, according to the Department of Defense.
He has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and five Legion of Merit awards, along with numerous campaign and unit awards.
