'Fat Leonard' Returns to U.S. to Face Charges After Venezuela Prisoner Swap

The controversial swap, which also involved the release of Alex Saab, a close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, has sparked criticism for betraying America's commitment to human rights and democracy.

• Leonard Glenn Francis, known as 'Fat Leonard', a defense contractor involved in one of the largest bribery scandals in U.S. military history, has been returned to the U.S. from Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap.
• Francis had been in custody in Venezuela after escaping from house arrest in the U.S. last year, just weeks before a sentencing hearing on charges that he offered more than $500,000 in cash bribes to Navy officials and defense contractors.
• The prisoner swap also involved the release of 10 American detainees by Venezuela in exchange for the Biden administration freeing Alex Saab, a Colombian-born businessman and close ally of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro who'd been charged in the U.S. in a money laundering case.
• Francis is expected to face additional charges in the U.S. for failing to appear at a hearing in his ongoing bribery case in San Diego.
• The prisoner swap has been criticized as a betrayal of America's commitment to human rights and democracy in the region, and a disregard for Venezuela's democratic opposition.

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