Retired Adm. Robert Burke, who served as vice chief of naval operations from June 2019 until June 2020, will remain in prison while appealing his conviction for bribery, conspiracy and other charges, an appellate court ruled earlier this month. (U.S. Navy)
A retired four-star admiral who once was the Navy’s No. 2-ranking officer will remain in prison while appealing his conviction for bribery, conspiracy and other charges, an appeals court ordered earlier this month.
Robert Burke did not show that the appeal of his May conviction presented a substantial question of law or fact likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Nov. 13.
Burke was sentenced in September to six years in prison following his conviction in May for his role in a scheme to direct lucrative contracts to a New York-based training company in exchange for a $500,000-a-year job, stock options and other benefits.
Burke, who was vice chief of naval operations from June 2019 to June 2020, also hadn’t shown that his appeal would result in a sentence with either no prison time or a term less than the total of the time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal process, the court ruled.
In October, a federal judge cited similar reasoning in refusing Burke’s request to delay his sentence, which he is serving at a federal prison in West Virginia.
Burke’s attorneys had argued that his appeal would raise substantial questions of law and fact that were likely to result in reversal or an order for a new trial, according to court documents.
His trial “involved significant legal errors,” Burke’s attorneys said in an Oct. 17 emergency motion for release pending appeal.
He reported to the Hazelton federal penitentiary in Bruceton Mills, W.Va., on Oct. 21, the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement on Monday.
Burke, who led U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa as a four-star admiral from 2020 until his retirement in 2022, had faced as much as 30 years in prison.
During his trial, prosecutors said he conspired with Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger, co-CEOs of Next Jump, to direct a $355,135 contract to the company for training programs in Rota, Spain, and Naples, Italy, as part of a three-phase plan to garner more work with the Navy.
Burke went to work for Next Jump a few months after his retirement before resigning in January 2023, court records show. The company offers training and leadership development programs, according to its website.
Kim and Messenger are set for retrial in April on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery, according to court records
A jury could not reach a decision in their September trial. They each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to the Justice Department.
Burke’s appeal brief is due Dec. 22. He is only the second Navy admiral ever convicted of a federal crime committed on active duty.
The first was Adm. Robert Gilbeau, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2017 after admitting that he lied in telling federal officials he had never received any gifts from a Malaysian businessman Leonard Francis.
Known as “Fat Leonard,” he was at the center of a massive bribery scandal involving Navy officers over a period of years.
