May 31 (UPI) — A retired U.S. Navy admiral was arrested Friday along with two other company executives on charges related to a bribery scheme involving government contracts.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, retired four-star Navy Admiral Robert Burke, 62, is accused of using his influence to secure Navy contracts with workforce training companies from 2020 to 2022.
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Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Megan Messenger are co-CEOs of NextJump, a New York City-based training company that ran a pilot program to train small Navy companies from August 2018 to July 2019 before the Navy terminated its contract.
According to the Justice Department, despite the Navy ordering Kim and Messenger not to contact Burke, the three met in Washington, D.C. in July 2021 to allegedly attempt to resume NextJump's business with the Navy.
The indictment alleges that Burke used his authority to influence other Navy officers to award NextJump a contract to train a larger Navy squadron, a contract Kim estimated to be worth “several million dollars.”
While Burke was the Navy's top officer in Europe in 2021, he allegedly directed staff to award the company a $355,000 contract to train personnel under his command in Italy and Spain.
After NextJump conducted the training in 2022, Burke tried unsuccessfully to persuade senior admirals to award the company a new contract, and he allegedly made several false statements to the Navy to make it appear he had no involvement in issuing the previous contract.
According to the Justice Department, Burke began working for NextJump in October 2022 and was offered a starting salary of $500,000 and 100,000 stock options. He allegedly told the Navy that employment negotiations between the company and him began several months after the contract was signed.
Burke is charged with bribery, bribery conspiracy, performing acts to influence personal financial interest and concealing a material fact, which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted.
Kim and Messenger are charged with bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery, and if convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison.
Burke will make his initial appearance in court in Florida on Friday and will be arraigned in Washington, D.C. shortly thereafter, his attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told USNI News.
He pleaded not guilty.
“The biggest problem with this indictment is the timeline,” Parlatore said. “The Department of Justice mistakenly believes he was offered and contracted for work much earlier than he actually was, with nothing in return and absolutely no work for the contract. It is odd that he came to work for them later, but he did not enter into serious contract negotiations until the appropriate time and with the proper authorization.”
Burke became the Navy's 40th vice chief of naval operations in June 2019. He also served as senior naval adviser to the secretary of the Navy and chief of naval operations, according to the Department of Defense.
He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Outstanding Service Medal, five Legion of Merit awards, as well as numerous campaign and unit awards.
