A retired four-star Navy admiral has been guilty of bribery in connection with accepting future employment at a government vendor in exchange for awarding that company a government contract.
Following a five-day trial, a federal jury on May 20 found Robert Burke, 62, of Coconut Creek, Florida, guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest, and concealing material facts from the United States.
According to a Department of Justice release, Burke oversaw U.S. Naval operations in Europe, Russia, and most of Africa, and commanded thousands of civilian and military personnel from 2020 to 2022.
His two co-defendants, Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, were the co-CEOs of a company (Company A) and provided a workforce training pilot program to a small component of the Navy from August 2018 through July 2019. The Navy terminated a contract with Company A in late 2019 and directed Company A not to contact Burke.
Despite those instructions, the co-defendants met with Burke in Washington, D.C., in July 2021, to reestablish Company A’s business relationship with the Navy. At the meeting, the charged defendants agreed that Burke would use his position as a Navy admiral to steer a contract to Company A in exchange for future employment at the company.
They also agreed that Burke would use his official position to influence other Navy officers to award another contract to Company A to train a large portion of the Navy with a value one of the co-defendants allegedly estimated to be “triple digit millions.”
Burke ordered his staff to award a $355,000 contract to Company A in December 2021 to train personnel under Burke’s command in Italy and Spain. Company A performed the training in January 2022.
Burke then promoted Company A in a failed attempt to convince another senior Navy admiral to award another contract to Company A. To conceal the scheme, Burke made several false and misleading statements to the Navy, including falsely implying that Company A’s employment discussions with Burke only began months after the contract was awarded and omitting the truth on his required government ethics disclosure forms.
Burke began working at Company A in October of 2022 at a yearly starting salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options.
"When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. “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.”
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden scheduled sentencing for Aug. 22.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.