Retired Navy admiral found guilty in bribery scheme

A retired Navy admiral was found guilty of bribery by a federal jury Monday for steering a contract to a private company while serving in the Navy in exchange for a job with the company post-retirement, federal prosecutors said.

Retired Adm. Robert Burke, a former vice chief of naval operations, was found guilty of bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest and concealing material facts following a trial that ended Monday in Washington, D.C., federal court, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Burke is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 22. He could face 20 to 30 years in prison.

Burke is the most senior military member ever convicted of committing a federal crime while on active duty, according to The Washington Post.

“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 interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in the release. “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 2020 to 2022, Burke was a four-star Admiral overseeing U.S. naval operations in Europe, Russia and most of Africa, according to the release.

During that time, Burke directed a contract to Next Jump, an executive training company.

Burke initially contacted Next Jump after a series of scandals involving U.S. Navy officers and defense contractor Leonard Francis, known as “Fat Leonard.” The contract was to help address a perceived ethical and leadership crisis in the service.

But his own decisions then led to another ethical crisis.

“I was allowing myself to be influenced in ways that were inappropriate,” Burke said in a secretly recorded Oct. 3, 2023, interview with Navy criminal investigators, the Post reported. “I put myself in positions that allowed [Next Jump] to influence me, and I didn’t fully disclose everything.”

Co-CEOs and co-defendants Charlie Kim and Meghan Messenger oversaw Next Jump and conducted a workforce training pilot for the Navy from 2018 to 2019. But the Navy terminated the contract in late 2019 and directed the company not to contact Burke.

However, the admiral met with the co-CEOs in Washington in July 2021 to “reestablish [Next Jump’s] business relationship with the Navy,” according to the release.

In the meeting, the CEOs agreed Burke would use his position to steer the contract to their company for future contracts that could potentially be worth millions.

In December 2021, Burke ordered his staff to award a $355,000 contract to Next Jump to train personnel under his command in Italy and Spain. The company performed the training.

Burke then tried to get another contract for the company by persuading another admiral to sign off on it. He made several “false and misleading statements to the Navy” to conceal the scheme, according to the release.

In October 2022, Burke, who had since retired from the Navy, took a position with Next Jump for an annual salary of $500,000 and 100,000 stock options.

Burke’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, called the decision a wrongful verdict, according to Military.com, and told the outlet it was the result of a hasty trial in which the government went to great lengths to present evidence that showed only half the story.

Parlatore said the trial was initially set to run for three weeks but wrapped in five days, concluding without the government presenting all of its evidence.

“This case demonstrates that when you start with a bad investigation by incompetent investigators, you end up with a case that the only way you can get a conviction is by hiding the evidence from the jury,” Parlatore said.

Kim and Messenger will face their separate trial in August.

Next Jump attorney Reed Brodsky told the Post that he expected their trial to be “very different.”

“I expect the evidence will show that Burke and others at the Navy misled Charlie and Meghan in material ways, and they reasonably relied on Burke who was lying to them. I think it’ll be embarrassing for the Navy,” Brodsky said.