A retired 4-star Navy admiral could face 30 years in prison following his conviction on Monday for his role in a bribery scheme involving a defense contractor while he was commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa.
After a five-day trial, Adm. Robert P. Burke was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, performing acts affecting a personal financial interest, and concealing material facts from the United States.
Adm. Burke was formerly the Vice Chief of Naval Operations — the second-most senior position in the Navy.
He was arrested in May 2024 after federal prosecutors accused him of funneling a $355,000 contract to a New York-based training company called Next Jump that hired him after he retired from the Navy.
“When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent.” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said.
“Our office, with our law enforcement partners, will root out corruption — be it bribes or illegal contracts — and hold accountable the perpetrators, no matter what title or rank they hold,” she said.
Also charged in the case were Next Jump’s co-CEOs Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger. Both face 20 years in prison if convicted of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.
In October 2022, Next Jump announced on its Facebook page that Adm. Burke would join the firm as a senior partner. According to court documents, his annual base salary would be $500,000.
The company provided a workforce training pilot program to a “small component” of the Navy from August 2018 through July 2019, when the Navy cancelled the contract and told Next Jump not to contact Adm. Burke, the Justice Department said Monday.
“Despite the Navy’s instructions, the co-defendants met with Burke in Washington, D.C. in July 2021, to reestablish [Next Jump’s] business relationship with the Navy,” federal prosecutors said. They “agreed that Bruke would use his position as a Navy admiral to steer a contract to [Next Jump] in exchange for future employment at the company.”
Prosecutors said Adm. Burke also agreed to use his official position in the Navy to influence other officers to award another contract to the company.
He ordered his staff to award a lucrative contract to Next Jump to train personnel in his command in Italy and Spain. Prosecutors said Adm. Burke failed to convince another senior Navy official to award another contract to the company.
“To conceal the scheme, Burke made several false and misleading statements to the Navy, including by falsely implying that [Next Jump’s] employment discussions with Burke only began months after the contract was awarded and omitting the truth on his required government ethics disclosure forms,” federal prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden scheduled sentencing for Aug. 22.
