The Department of Justice today announced the conviction of 62 year-old retired Navy Admiral Robert Burke. Burke was found guilty of bribery after it was found that he had awarded a government contract in exchange for future employment with the same company.
The verdict today was announced by the newly-appointed U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., Jeanine Pirro along with other members of the Justice Department, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services, and the newly-appointed Assistant Director of the Washington Field Office, Steven Jensen.
Burke oversaw naval operations as the 40th Vice Chief of Naval Operations from June 2019 to June 2020 and as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa and Allied Joint Force Command Naples from 2020-2022 according to his Navy bio and the press release. According to his bio:
His staff assignments include tours as an instructor and director for the Electrical Engineering Division at Naval Nuclear Power School, junior board member on the Pacific Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board, submarine officer community manager/nuclear officer program manager; senior Tactical Readiness Evaluation Team member at Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; deputy director for Operations, Strategy and Policy Directorate (J5) at United States Joint Forces Command; division director, Submarine/Nuclear Power Distribution (PERS-42); and director, Joint and Fleet Operations, N3/N5, U.S. Fleet Forces Command.
In 2018, an unnamed company, Company A, which was identified as Next Jump by the Washington Post, provided a workforce training pilot program from August 2018 thru July 2019 before the contract was cancelled by the Navy.
However, in July 2021, the company’s executives, named as co-defendants, met with the admiral to “reestablish Company A’s business relationship with the Navy.”
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At the meeting, the charged defendants agreed that Burke would use his position as a Navy Admiral to steer a contract to Company A in exchange for future employment at the company. They further agreed that Burke would use his official position to influence other Navy officers to award another contract to Company A to train a large portion of the Navy with a value one of the co-defendants allegedly estimated to be “triple digit millions.”
In December 2021, Burke ordered his staff to award a $355,000 contract to Company A to train personnel under Burke’s command in Italy and Spain. Company A performed the training in January 2022. Thereafter, Burke promoted Company A in a failed effort to convince another senior Navy Admiral to award another contract to Company A. To conceal the scheme, Burke made several false and misleading statements to the Navy, including by falsely implying that Company A’s employment discussions with Burke only began months after the contract was awarded and omitting the truth on his required government ethics disclosure forms.
In October 2022, Burke began working at Company A at a yearly starting salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options.
This case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the FBI’s Washington Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca G. Ross for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Trevor Wilmot and Kathryn E. Fifield of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. It was investigated and indicted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein.”
Retired U.S. Navy Admiral Found Guilty in Bribery Scheme
https://t.co/PtXSL848Hu@USAttyPirro @DOJCrimDiv @RealNCIS @FBIWFO pic.twitter.com/wiaHueZBFX
— U.S. Attorney DC (@USAO_DC) May 19, 2025
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro stated:
“When you abuse your position and betray the public trust to line your own pockets, it undermines the confidence in the government you represent. 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.”
President Trump had mentioned as early as 2016, as President-Elect, that he was considering a lifetime ban on military procurement officials going to work for defense contractors, according to Reuters. “I think anybody that gives out these big contracts should never ever, during their lifetime, be allowed to work for a defense company, for a company that makes that product.”
In August 2024 during an interview with podcaster Theo Von, President Trump called out this exact situation and reiterated his 2016 remarks:
“If you work for government, especially if you’re giving out contracts, in other words, you’re a powerful person within some industry…the Navy…the Army…you know, anything…it could be military procurement, etc. There’s a whole question as to you give out a contract and then all of the sudden you’re working for the person or the company you gave the contract to…and it’s obviously a problem. And it’s a big problem. And we were doing things about it.”
WATCH: Trump says government employees leaving the government to work for military contractors is a “BIG PROBLEM” and plans to do something about it
No, you know why the warmongers tried to end the man’s life
“You give out a contract, and then all of a sudden you’re working for… pic.twitter.com/rgiL1bl3Kl
— George (@BehizyTweets) August 20, 2024
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