Defence contractor Leonard Glenn Francis even managed to obtain, through his many moles in the US Navy, files about active law-enforcement investigations into his own company.

There was no doubt that he was a smart operator. But, in the end, he was outmanoeuvred by US investigators.

They lured him to California ostensibly to meet admirals who had lucrative contracts to offer and nabbed him, according to a Washington Post article.

And the investigations into Francis and his fraud have opened up a can of worms in the US navy itself, as it is possibly the worst national-security breach of its kind to hit the navy since the end of the cold war.

Francis, 51, nicknamed Fat Leornard, was arrested on Sept 16, 2013 in his hotel suite overlooking San Diego harbour. He has since pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery charges and his Glenn Defense Marine Asia is financially ruined.

Francis, who grew up in Penang, admitted to bribing “scores” of navy officials with cash, sex and gifts worth millions of dollars to win more contracts and overcharge with impunity.

Robert Huie, an assistant US attorney in San Diego, was reported as saying during a court hearing last year: “Francis’ conduct has passed from being merely exceptional to being the stuff of history and legend.”

The long-form article said the Malaysian’s arrest was the opening strike in a sweep covering three states and seven countries, as hundreds of law-enforcement agents arrested other suspects and seized incriminating files from Francis’s business empire.

More than that, it continues to reveal, three years from his arrest, a staggering degree of corruption within the US Navy itself, according to the Washington Post.

The Singapore-based Francis is said to have charmed a generation of navy officers with his manners and by showering them with gifts, epicurean dinners, prostitutes and, if necessary, cash bribes so they would look the other way while he swindled the navy to refuel and resupply its ships.

He exploited the intelligence he gained, the report said, for illicit profit. He had even brazenly ordered his moles to redirect aircraft carriers to ports he controlled so he could more easily bilk the navy for fuel, tugboats, barges, food, water and sewage removal.

Over at least a decade, according to documents filed by prosecutors, Glenn Defense ripped off the navy with little fear of getting caught because Francis had so thoroughly infiltrated the military ranks.

The report said the company forged invoices, falsified quotes and ran kickback schemes. It created ghost subcontractors and fake port authorities to fool the navy into paying for services it never received.

Francis and his firm have admitted to defrauding the navy of USD35 million, though investigators believe the real amount could be much greater, the Washington Post reported.

It said military and civilian investigators were continuing their investigations into the navy over the Francis affair.

So far, four navy officers, an enlisted sailor and a senior agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) have pleaded guilty to federal crimes and are behind bars or facing prison time. So have Francis and two other Glenn Defense executives. Charges are pending against two former navy contracting officials. Many others remain under investigation, according to the report.

The report said that a “striking portion” of the navy’s senior brass could be tarnished.

Last December, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson, summoned about 200 admirals to a gathering in Washington. Without naming names, he revealed about 30 of them were under criminal investigation by the Justice Department or ethical scrutiny by the navy for their connections to Francis, the Washington Post said, quoting two senior navy officials with direct knowledge of the meeting.

The Washington Post report was based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former navy officials, as well as hundreds of pages of court filings, contracting records and military documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

It details how one Malaysian was able to cheat and mislead the US Navy for years.