A retired four-star Navy admiral was convicted Monday for using his position to route a deal to a defense contractor in exchange for a cushy gig at the firm.
Retired Adm. Robert Burke was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest and concealing material facts from the U.S. after attempting to award a slew of contracts to a company called Next Jump in exchange for a job with an annual salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options upon his private sector retirement. Burke served as the commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa from 2020 to 2022, when the bribery scheme took place.
Burke is one the highest-ranking military officials to be convicted on bribery charges, according to The New York Times.
“When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent,” interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a statement. “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.”
From 2018 to 2019, Next Jump provided a training program to Burke’s command component, with the contract ending officially in late 2019, according to the DOJ. However, Burke continued to meet with the company in 2021 despite instructions from the Navy for the company to not contact Burke.
In 2021, Next Jump worked out a deal to leverage Burke’s position in the Navy to push a contract forward in December 2021 in exchange for a cushy job, which he assumed in December 2022 after he retired from his posting, according to the DOJ. The contract awarded in 2021 was worth $355,000, but the company had discussed future contracts for training Navy personnel that could be worth “triple digit millions,” according to the NYT.
Burke was also alleged to have lied to the Navy about the nature of his dealings with the company, according to the DOJ. Timothy Parlatore, Burke’s defense attorney, told reporters Monday that Burke plans to appeal the conviction, according to the NYT.
“They presented a tiny, tiny sliver of evidence,” Parlatore told reporters. “We do think this is a case where a wrongful conviction was obtained because the jury was prevented from hearing the whole truth.”
Sentencing is scheduled for August, and Burke could face up to 30 years in prison, according to the NYT.
The Navy did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment, and Next Jump did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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