- Joined
- Sep 27, 2008
- Messages
- 20,575
I felt like taking a shower after reading this. Too many people going headlong down the slippery slope with their eyes half-closed. But also half-open.
I have to say, I dealt with all kinds of port agents over the years, in the Med and the Pacific, and many did try to offer cases of booze/wine, tickets to shows, etc. One skeezy guy in Naples who handled the USNS oilers' port calls in Italy, and whose firm handled Greece (I was USNS Skeds O at the time for the Med), offered me a week at his vacation villa in the Aeolian Islands. The offer also included him. Made it easy to decline....
These firms competed for the service contracts at port calls for all kinds of ships, and bribery was a way of life. Christmas, birthdays, New Year - something was always being offered. I knew I was supposed to say no, and I did. I and the civilian staff comptroller reviewed invoices with a fine toothed comb.
Leonard must be one heckuva amoral snake oil salesman and con artist. He could sniff out the human weakness and exploit it with pinpoint accuracy. It's just icky about the prostitutes. I think about the families back home.
Here's the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/wp/2016/05/27/fat-leonard/
I have to say, I dealt with all kinds of port agents over the years, in the Med and the Pacific, and many did try to offer cases of booze/wine, tickets to shows, etc. One skeezy guy in Naples who handled the USNS oilers' port calls in Italy, and whose firm handled Greece (I was USNS Skeds O at the time for the Med), offered me a week at his vacation villa in the Aeolian Islands. The offer also included him. Made it easy to decline....
These firms competed for the service contracts at port calls for all kinds of ships, and bribery was a way of life. Christmas, birthdays, New Year - something was always being offered. I knew I was supposed to say no, and I did. I and the civilian staff comptroller reviewed invoices with a fine toothed comb.
Leonard must be one heckuva amoral snake oil salesman and con artist. He could sniff out the human weakness and exploit it with pinpoint accuracy. It's just icky about the prostitutes. I think about the families back home.
Here's the link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/wp/2016/05/27/fat-leonard/