Fat Leonard: Recent Episodes
Brazen
It’s the most shocking unknown tale of our era: a defense contractor who bribed Navy officers with cash, prostitutes and luxury items in return for multi-million-dollar deals. Now, under arrest and battling cancer, Leonard Francis, AKA Fat Leonard, is angry, and he’s talking for the first time. His explosive story will change the way you look at the U.S. Navy forever. With exclusive access to Leonard Francis himself, Fat Leonard reveals the true story of the misogynistic men at the heart of the Navy and the brave women who brought them down.
To access all episodes of the Fat Leonard podcast, subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts, or on other podcast apps by visiting www.brazen.fm/plus. Subscribing will not only unlock Fat Leonard, but it’ll also give you early access to new Brazen shows, as well as ad-free listening and exclusive subscriber-only content across all podcasts in our network.
For more, visit: www.fatleonardpodcast.com
Fat Leonard is a Project Brazen production. For more fearless storytelling, search for the Brazen channel on Apple Podcasts or visit brazen.fm, home to all our podcasts, documentaries and newsletters. At Brazen, we show you how the world really works – from espionage and corruption to deal-making and organised crime, we’ll take you inside stories from hidden worlds. For the latest from Brazen delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletters at brazen.fm/newsletters.
This week on Fat Leonard, we’re sharing a special preview of Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal. This new series uncovers Silicon Valley’s origins as a laboratory for espionage.
At the dawn of the hi-tech age, Moscow’s spies opened up shop in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. In this podcast, you’ll get to know the group of FBI spy hunters who assembled to stop them—and solve the case of a lifetime.
Hosted by national security journalist Zach Dorfman, Spy Valley will walk you through a maze of technology theft, double agents, and unbelievable events that put an American engineer at the center of it all.
There are new episodes of Spy Valley out now. To keep listening, search for Spy Valley: An Engineer's Nuclear Betrayal, wherever you get your podcasts.
To listen ad-free and get early access to new episodes, subscribe to Brazen+ in the Apple Podcasts app, or visit brazen.fm/plus to subscribe on other platforms.
This week on Fat Leonard, we’re sharing a special preview of the first episode of Ritually, a brand new Brazen podcast exploring what spirituality looks like for our secular world.
Join journalist-turned-guinea pig Nelufar Hedayat as she tries a new ritual in every episode. From sacred readings of Harry Potter to tarot cards, Nelufar dives in with the help of a different spiritual guide each week to see if these practices can actually make us feel better. In episode one, Nelufar struggles with patriarchal interpretations of Islam and decides to enlist the help of feminist spiritual practitioner Sarah Zaltash. She tries a new ritual to deepen her connection to Islam: following the daily call to prayer. It’s a practice that unites 1.8 billion Muslims around the world. But this version is different — radical, actually! — because it’s in a woman’s voice.
There are new episodes of Ritually out now. To keep listening, search for Ritually, wherever you get your podcasts. To listen ad-free and get early access to new episodes, subscribe to Brazen+ in the Apple Podcasts app or at brazen.fm/plus.
For more, visit ritually/fm.
This week on Fat Leonard, we’re sharing a special preview of the first episode of Gateway: Cocaine, Murder & Dirty Money in Europe, Project Brazen’s podcast that takes you inside the hidden world of cocaine.
In this six-part podcast series from Project Brazen, host Mitchell Prothero explores Europe’s cocaine crisis through the dramatic stories of cartel leaders, cops, journalists, and the victims caught in the middle. From RPG attacks on newspaper offices to the slaughter of entire families, the war on drugs has arrived on Europe’s shores. And a lot of people are making a lot of dirty money. Reporting from Antwerp and Amsterdam, Project Brazen goes deep inside this crazy under-reported story.
There are new episodes of Gateway out now. To keep listening, search for Gateway: Cocaine, Murder & Dirty Money in Europe, wherever you get your podcasts. To listen ad-free and get early access to new episodes, subscribe to Brazen+ in the Apple Podcasts app.
For more, visit brazen.fm/gateway.
After fleeing house arrest, Leonard Francis made it across the border into Mexico and on to South America. But it didn’t take long for the law to catch up with him. In this bonus episode, Project Brazen co-founder Tom Wright speaks to Kristina Davis of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Carlos Camacho in Caracas, two journalists close to Leonard’s case, about the fraudster’s escape plan, his recapture, and what the future holds for him under President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
For updates on Project Brazen’s latest investigations into the hidden worlds of wealth and power, subscribe to our free newsletter, Whale Hunting, at: https://whalehunting.projectbrazen.com
Enjoy Fat Leonard? Stay tuned for more series like this one by subscribing to Project Brazen Originals, wherever you get your podcasts.
Fat Leonard Francis has fled house arrest and gone on the run, triggering a major manhunt in the US. In this bonus episode, Project Brazen co-founder Tom Wright discusses how the notorious fraudster may have made his daring escape, where he may have fled to, and why he decided to vanish now – just three weeks before he was due to be sentenced by a San Diego court.
A jury in San Diego returned verdicts in the trials against several Navy officers implicated by Fat Leonard. Project Brazen founders Bradley Hope and Tom Wright discuss the latest developments in the case and news about a TV series based on the Fat Leonard podcast.
A lot has happened since we wrapped up the first season of the "Fat Leonard" podcast, and host Tom Wright is back with all the updates - the good, the bad and the unexpected. Includes new interviews with whistleblower Marcy Misiewicz, David Loy (Legal Director of the First Amendment Coalition) and Don Christensen (President, Protect Our Defenders). Stay tuned for updates from the trial in the coming weeks.
With Leonard in jail, the Navy investigates hundreds of officers. But they spare top admirals. Tom’s relationship with Leonard reaches breaking point. A major trial of U.S. Navy officers is set to start in February. Watch out for bonus episodes.
Beaten and angry, Marcy Misiewicz makes a decision that will bring down Leonard, and her husband along with him.
A cocksure Navy officer called David Schaus takes on Leonard. He’s joined by a principled Navy supply official called Teresa Kelly. Finally, they force Navy admirals, who for years have given him cover, to take Leonard’s fraud seriously.
Leonard’s cruel treatment of his Filipina girlfriend, Morena De Jesus, and their children together, exposes his dark side. A fraught relationship with his own father could hold the key to understanding Leonard.
Michael Misiewicz was a rising star in the Navy before Leonard corrupts him with prostitutes, cash and free travel. We see the descent of one officer into graft and violence through the voice of his wife, Marcy Misiewicz.
How Leonard buys his own warship, the Braveheart, complete with a mercenary army, and deploys it to help fight Al Qaeda. He secretly records orgies with Navy officers, causing one of the U.S.’s worst ever national security breaches.
We look back at the Tailhook sexual assault scandal of 1991 through the voice of Navy whistleblower Paula Coughlin. The Navy’s problem with misogyny is deep seated and it set the stage for Leonard’s rise.
Out of jail, aged 21, Leonard begins his career as a defense contractor, just as the U.S. embarks on its Forever Wars. Through skill, bribes and luck, we chart the Wolf of Wall Street-like rise of Leonard, on the back of a product called the Ring of Steel.
Leonard Francis became the most powerful military contractor in the Pacific, running a mafia organization at the heart of the U.S. Navy. He’s over 300 pounds, and charming. We meet him in jail, and explore why he’s talking exclusively to our host, author and journalist Tom Wright. We explore Leonard’s troubled childhood. It turns out this isn’t his first time in prison.
Leonard Francis, AKA Fat Leonard, is angry, and he’s talking for the first time. His explosive story will change the way you look at the U.S. Navy forever.