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A former four-star admiral who was at one point the fourth-highest military official in the Navy has been arrested for allegedly accepting bribes to influence government contracts.
Retired Navy Admiral Robert Burke, 62, of Coconut Creek, Florida, was charged with bribery and conspiracy, according to a Justice Department (DOJ) statement released Friday. Burke, along with business executives Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, both from New York, face charges related to bribery schemes intended to benefit a company in exchange for a future job. The DOJ’s indictment reveals that Burke is also charged with performing acts that affected his personal financial interest and hiding crucial information from the US government.
Burke’s career in the Navy included commanding attack and ballistic missile submarines, eventually rising to the position of the 40th Vice Chief of Naval Operations in June 2019. He later led the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Forces Command. Kim and Messenger, identified as co-CEOs of “Company A”—a firm providing workforce training to a Navy unit—were implicated in the scheme to secure lucrative contracts by leveraging Burke’s position.
The Navy had previously terminated its contract with “Company A” in 2019 and warned them against further contact with Burke. However, in July 2021, while Burke was commanding Navy personnel in Europe and Africa, Kim and Messenger allegedly met with him in Washington, DC, to discuss rekindling their business relationship with the Navy.
During this meeting, Burke reportedly agreed to use his influence to secure a sole-source contract for Company A in return for future employment. He allegedly promised to sway other Navy officials to award additional contracts, which Kim projected to be worth hundreds of millions. By December 2021, Burke had directed his staff to grant a $355,000 contract to Company A for training in Italy and Spain.
After Company A completed the training in January 2022, Burke tried to persuade a senior Navy Admiral to award another contract to the firm. To cover up his actions, Burke made several misleading statements, creating the false impression that he had no role in awarding the contract and that employment talks with “Company A” began only after the contract’s completion.
Following his retirement in the summer of 2022, Burke joined “Company A” in October of the same year, with an initial salary of $500,000 and 100,000 stock options.
In a statement, a Navy spokesman said, “We take this matter very seriously and will continue to cooperate with the Department of Justice. As this is an ongoing legal case we would refer you to the DOJ for any further information regarding this matter.”
If convicted, Burke could face up to 30 years in prison, while Kim and Messenger could each receive up to 20 years.
