Retired Admiral Robert Burke has been handed a six-year sentence for granting a government contract to a company in return for a lucrative position
Federal prosecutors have announced that retired US Navy Admiral Robert Burke received a six-year prison sentence along with a substantial fine for bribery. The 62-year-old was convicted of providing a government contract to a company in exchange for subsequent employment with that organization.
This four-star admiral previously held the position of the Navy’s second-most senior uniformed officer, overseeing its operations in Europe and Africa. Prosecutors stated on Tuesday that a jury had found Burke guilty of bribery, conspiracy, and several associated offenses in May.
The legal document indicates that the admiral leveraged his authority to guarantee that Next Jump, a company identified by the media, secured a government contract in 2021 to deliver workforce training to Navy personnel. Prosecutors noted that a multi-million dollar contract with the same company had been canceled two years earlier due to being “poorly received.”
It came to light that Burke held private meetings with Yongchul Kim and Meghan Messenger, the co-CEOs of the firm. They reportedly offered the commander future employment at their company in return for his support. Officials stated that the new $355,000 contract involved delivering “essentially the identical programming that had proven unsuccessful two years prior.”
Upon his retirement from the Navy in 2022, the admiral began working for Next Jump, receiving an initial annual salary of $500,000 and 100,000 in stock options, according to the statement.
Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, accused the commander of “converting four stars into dollar signs and exchanging his duty for a corporate payout.”
The admiral’s lawyers indicated their intention to appeal his convictions, characterizing his actions as a “tragic departure from his long-standing character during a period of significant professional and personal pressure at the conclusion of a demanding four-decade career.”
They further pointed out that the $500,000 salary and stock options offered by Next Jump as compensation were “considerably less than what a retired four-star admiral could earn in the private sector,” suggesting that the arrangement was illogical.