Former Navy official convicted of bribery and lying to investigators

A federal jury in the District of Columbia convicted the former Director of Operations of the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command Office in Busan, South Korea, today for his role in a bribery conspiracy and for lying to federal investigators.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Fernando Xavier Monroy, 64, of Brentwood, New York, engaged in a conspiracy to commit bribery with the owner of DK Marine, a South Korea-based company that provided services to the U.S. Navy, and a former civilian U.S. Navy cargo ship captain. Evidence at trial proved that Monroy conspired to unlawfully provide services for the Navy ship, captained by one of Monroy’s co-conspirators, during a December 2013 port visit in Chinhae, South Korea.

Evidence at trial also proved that Monroy provided a co-conspirator with confidential and other proprietary, internal U.S. Navy information. In exchange for the steering of business and the provision of such information, the co-conspirator paid bribes to Monroy, including cash, personal travel expenses, meals and alcoholic beverages, and the services of prostitutes. Monroy also repeatedly lied to special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) during a voluntary interview in July 2019.

Monroy was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and making false statements. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18 and faces a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division made the announcement.

The DCIS and NCIS investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Sara Hallmark and Amanda Lingwood of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.