Cited by the Washington Post as ‘perhaps the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the Navy since the end of the Cold War’, the Fat Leonard scandal is a tale of greed and sleaze at the heart of the US Military. 

Leonard Francis, the gangster-cum-defence contractor at the centre of the scandal talks exclusively for the first time to Tom Wright. Tom uncovers the seedy bribes and favours Fat Leonard offered leading admirals to win multi-million dollar defence contracts. The podcast, quickly becoming a hit phenomenon just four episodes in, sheds light on the Navy’s cover up of the case and their failure to prosecute the officers implicated.

Alongside the geopolitical implications of the scandal, Tom pays particular attention to the rampant misogyny that allowed senior officers’ behaviour to go unchecked for so long. The story is a shocking cautionary tale and shows the necessity of diverse leadership at any organisation.   

Coverage of Fat Leonard in the media:

• CBS News: Man at the center of Navy corruption scandal speaks
• The Guardian: Best Podcasts of the Week
• Wall Street Journal: The Man at the Center of a Shocking U.S. Navy Scandal

About the Host

Tom Wright is best known as the co-author of ‘Billion Dollar Whale’, the incredible story of Malaysian fraudster, Jho Low. The book was a New York Times bestseller and is due for release as a Netflix production in 2022. He was formerly Asia Economics Editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Tom has since co-founded Project Brazen with former co-author Bradley Hope. Bradley is also the author of ‘Blood and Oil’, the story of Mohamed Bin Salman’s rise to power in Saudi Arabia.

Project Brazen is an innovative content studio with a pipeline of podcasts, documentaries, TV shows, and films. Fat Leonard is its inaugural project.