Four Star Awarded 6 Year Sentence for Bribery
Robert Burke
Retired 4-star Navy admiral sentenced to 6 years for bribery plot
By Michael Kunzelman
A retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in prison for his conviction on corruption charges that he agreed to exchange a military contract for a lucrative postretirement job.
Retired Adm. Robert P. Burke — once the second-highest uniformed officer in the Navy — was commanding its forces in Europe and Africa when he engaged in a bribery plot with two business executives, according to federal prosecutors.
A jury convicted Burke of four counts, including conspiracy and accepting a bribe, after a trial in May. A separate trial for Burke’s two co-defendants — Next Jump co-CEOs Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger — ended with a hung jury and a mistrial last Thursday.
Burke, 63, declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C., sentenced him.
“This was blatantly unlawful, as you well knew,” the judge told him. “But you did it anyway.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Burke’s conduct was as blatant and egregious as it was damaging to the public’s trust in its leaders and corrosive to the integrity of the procurement system,” prosecutors wrote. “His offense demands accountability. His crime calls out for punishment.”
Enjoy Club Fed; maybe the Martha Stuart suite is available.
Category: Dick Stepping, Navy, Points-and-Laughs
Just couldn’t squeak by on retired O-10 pay.
I hear SECNAV has already retroactively reduced ADM Burke to RADM (2 Stars). That’s the least of his concerns. He might end up w/ nothing if SECNAV decides to assemble a board to assess if Burke should be retained on the Navy rolls.
He dishonored naval tradition and history. I am angry with his attempts of deception. Wonder what else has been swept under the rug? One of my relatives had a distinguished naval career and his son is a SEAL. Others served in the Army and Air Force. That this tin star adm is not in the brig is beyond comprehension. Is there no HONOR? Why is he not dishonorably discharged?
I believe he is the highest ranking former military officer to ever go to prison. He can still collect that $13k+ a month retirement check in the pen. Normally I would agree with that but his offense involved selling his office and that should go away. Oh well, at least he will have one hell of a commissary account.
Maybe he will be able to help the inmates build and rebuild a wall on the inside. Then he can take down a ghostly corrupt warden James Gandolfinni and find martyrs redemption for his misdeeds?
They demoted Ronny Jackson on the retired list, but this guy keeps his 4 stars?
He was reinstated on September 5th
I don’t understand why he is not dishonorably discharged. He was a leader? Would YOU follow him?
Better still, he could ask to work in the kitchen washing pots and pans and be known as Admiral of the vessels..
It’s great and a real pisser
Boooo…..ahh, no actually this was one of those rare GOOD puns!
Thank you S S..
Buffalo, guffaw
Not buffalo 2 guffaws.
The most hated job on KP duty: The pots and pans man. I was always impressed with how thoroughly those Army cooks at Ft. Lewis could bake/burn crud on the bottom of the pots and pans.
I went through basic with a guy who always volunteered for pots & pans; he considered it more “manly” than the other jobs. After a year or so I actually preferred pots & pans myself. Still not sure why.
Mmmm, I’m going to disagree with you here, part of going to prison includes a part of the sentence including “Forfeiture of all pay and Benefits” IIRC.
Can a civilian court do that?
He should lose his retirement pay as well, the traitorous wretch.
Felony conviction.
I hear SECNAV has already reduced him two grades to RADM. Will SECNAV conduct a board of active & retired 4 stars to determine dropping him from the Navy rolls (loss of retirement benefits)? That is a real possibility.
I don’t think that has happened yet. Do you have a link? He could be administratively reduced in grade to the last rank at which he served successfully under a review. That would be a big pay drop to O-8.
A DFR is only specifically allowed for convictions of treason or espionage against the US. Not sure graft and corruption rises to the occasion .
Retired ain’t FIRED. His dishonesty threatens the integrity of the service. I imagine we all have relatives who may not have risen to his rank but served with loyalty, honor, and in some cases distinction. Does Bronze Star mean anything now? Military funeral? I am heartbroken because this adm has violated the code of conduct which the men and women in my family served and honored.
Here’s hoping he gets recalled, court martialed, and awarded a dismissal. That’ll teach him.
What offense could he be court-martialed for, since he’s already convicted of conspiracy and bribery in civilian court?
If that happens, he’ll possibly be the first general/flag officer ever to be dismissed from service. Heck, as far any one can recall, only one active duty GO/FO has ever been sentenced to federal lockup and that was former Rear Adm lower-half Robert Gilbeau for taking bribes from Fat Leonard. Gilbeau was allowed to retire as a Captain.
No. Major General Hull was court-martialed for cowardice and dereliction of duty during the War of 1812. He was given the death penalty but was later pardoned by President Madison. However he was dismissed from the service and went home without a pension.
Ha, thanks dude. There was a retired British Major General who got court martialed and received dismissal around 2021 for committing fraud while on AD. The article stated the last time a British general, admiral, air marshal was court martialed was over 200 years ago during the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.
So about every 200 years eh?
At no point in the article did I see him losing his pension. Maybe I missed it, but how did/does that happen? Crime doesn’t pay, but I get to keep my legally gained money. Makes one shake their head in wonder.
Has to happen via court martial, IIRC.
Not sure about that though, cause I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, just the Hampton Inn.
Ah, low rent accommodations. 😉
Love? I’ll have you know it cost $15.00! We was robbed!
Watch yourself I’m them places! The last one we occupied 59 +years ago had a hole bored in the ceiling over a bed! We filled it with toothpaste. No telling what weirdos are up to these days. Even the eyes in some wall hangings can move and follow ya! If we can’t get back home in a day trip we don’t go.
There are two ways to lose your pension or parts of it. Military court martial and an unfavorable divorce settlement. The second one being a lot more common.
They could have recalled him to active duty to court martial him but… You know how like when your boss is taking bribes from Ukrainian oil companies and he doesn’t want to rock the boat and give people ideas so he lets your terrible behavior go unpunished? It’s kind of like that.
Me thinks his wife won’t be happy about the sudden loss of disposable income and maybe, just maybe, she will take his retirement money since he won’t have any need for it in the foreseeable future.
If I were her I would cut the sling load and get rid of the dead weight.
From my own divorce, it goes like this: the spouse is entitled to UP TO 50% of the service members pension IF they were married to the service member for their entire length of service. My ex (and more importantly, her attorney) hadn’t quite grasped that detail – we were married for not quite 15 of the 20 years I was in, and when the judge told her she wasn’t getting half, she was … surprised.
I don’t believe the law says “entitled to” half. It says “may be granted” up to half. In my own divorce, my ex tried to get half. Her lawyer said don’t even think it. Lawyer said he’s giving you the house, your car, all paid off, all he wants is his Jeep and tools. If you go after half of his, he goes after half of yours, Judge grants you both half, he gets a pay raise (ex was a high step GS12 at the time).
Ex Spouses are “entitled” to none of the pension by law. If the court awards a percentage than the military denotes the maximum amount that they can take from your retired pay.
The problem with the USFSPA is that it has been very, very badly misinterpreted by courts over the year. It has morphed into “this is how much you get”. I have seen so many good people get screwed over by it.
My Ex was also not awarded any of my retirement pay. It probably didn’t hurt that she made more money than me when we divorced and the divorce was fairly amicable considering how long we had been married (25 years).
I must also say that while I didn’t want to get divorced at the time, I have zero regrets. The kids were adults and I pretty much got everything in the divorce I wanted. Dating at my age is way more fun than I ever imagined it to be. Having complete freedom to do whatever I want has been very liberating. If I want to launch out on one of my Harleys, boats or C8 in some random direction and not come back for a weekend or a month than that is an option. Don’t think I will ever get married again, once you let a dog off the leash for a while he will never be happy penned up again.
Her lawyer pretty much told her “He’s offering far more than any judge would ever grant you, shuttup and sign”. I did want to get divorced, I just didn’t want to fight over shit. I took very little, left her debt free in a mortgage free house, retained my dignity and regained my sanity.
Exs are just “entitled” anyway.
I was never married but I’m single…
Well no, the court can award whatever the court sees fit to award. However for DFAS to deduct it from your pay automatically then it has to meet the rules as you noted. If it doesn’t meet the requirements set by DFAS than an allotment request from a former spouse will be rejected.
They could even award 100%, but no allotment will ever be be processed for that. So you would have to write a check for the rest every month and if you didn’t she would have to sue.
Yep. Is HONOR no longer valued?
I too fail to see the difference between committing a white-collar crime like this and committing any other crime (or even integrity/ethical breach) that would (and has) cost other officers substantial rank. Okay, so he committed his crime(s) at the end of his career? I’m sorry, but I don’t think that too many people just say “you know, I’ve spent nearly four decades serving this country honorably. It’s time to take something for myself, laws be damned.” I’m willing to bet that a little digging would show that a more befitting rank would be RADM or even CAPT or CDR. Once he got those stars, especially the third and fourth, he very well might have shifted into King Shit mode, where he felt he could do no wrong so long as he was acting in
his“the service’s” best interests.Now, he’s no wonder boy like Grazioplene who skyrocketed from MG to 2LT for some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, so I don’t know about just yanking his retirement pay as a whole. But one would think that any retiree convicted of felony charges committed while still in uniform would see a significant impact on his/her retirement rank and pay. I mean, ADM (R) Burke might be a felon, but would still command the respect of anyone in uniform. Disgraced newly demoted CDR (R) Burke would doubtlessly just fade into obscurity while avoiding any mention of his former service. At least, I would. But then, I was neither a senior “leader” or a felon, so what do I know?
Jeses Chris on roller skates! Admiral, if you’re gonna take bribes, for the love of the ocean take them from guys with names like “Joe” or “Bob”; not Yonchul or Tu Fat!!!!
Shore Patrol: “Let’s go, Burke!”
Burke: “where are we going?”
SP: “to the harbor.”
Burke: “what for? Why the harbor?”
SP: “Cuz that’s where the yardarms are. Duh.”
No 10% to the big guy for you.
FUCK sending him to “Club Fed”, make him do his stint at the USDB in Fort Leavenworth!
So now ANTIFA are terrorist’s. What does that make those that provide aid and comfort to terrorist groups? That makes them terrorists. Once all this is sorted out, it is time to call the DOJ on our now confirmed terrorist asshole. It was just a matter of time. He can explain the illegal weapons and the actions he fully admitted to here. Yet he was protected here.
I heard Trump was asked about it last week and basically delegated it to Bondi. Your pistachios prompted me to dodge a quick search, and it seems that Trump is designating Antifa as terrorists. A definite win, in my opinion.
Queue the whining liberals who claim Antifa is just an “idea”, a loose collection of peaceful anti-fascist protesters, or a lawful reactionary movement to the increasingly dictator-like Trump administration. I mean, I’ve seen nothing to indicate that Trump is attempting to exceed the powers of the presidency, much less try to retain power after this term is up, but I’m all for terroristic groups being labeled as such.
Thank you for your service, Admiral.