Burke was arrested with Yongchul “Charlie” Kim, 50, and Meghan Messenger, 47, founders of the New York-based technology services firm Next Jump, prosecutors announced.
All three face counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and bribery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Burke faces additional counts of performing acts affecting a personal financial interest and concealing material facts, punishable by up to 30 years.
In an interview, Burke’s attorney Tim Parlatore said: “He denies these charges. We do intend to go to trial, and we expect at trial he’ll be found not guilty,” adding that there was “no connection whatsoever between this contract and this job.”
Though the indictment does not name the business, its description matches that of Next Jump, a New York City company whose website identifies Kim and Messenger as among its founders roughly 30 years ago and as its current co-CEOs. The company lists the U.S. Navy as a customer, and it announced on social media that Burke had joined Next Jump in October 2022, aligning with the timing of the allegations in the indictment.
Kim and Messenger could not be immediately be reached for comment, and court records in Manhattan did not immediately identify attorneys for them. Next Jump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, federal law enforcement and military officials said the charges exemplified a commitment to “eradicating fraud” in the Defense Department.
“As alleged in the indictment, Admiral Burke used his public office and his four-star status for his private gain,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves. “The law does not make exceptions for admirals or CEOs. … The urgency is at its greatest when, as here, senior government officials and senior executives are allegedly involved in the corruption.”
Before retiring in 2022, Burke oversaw naval operations in Europe, Russia and most of Africa. A native of Portage, Mich., Burke served from June 2019 until June 2020 as the 40th vice chief of naval operations, the service’s No. 2-ranking officer. He succeeded retired Adm. William Moran, who was set to take over as the Navy’s top officer in August 2019 before unexpectedly retiring, citing his interactions with a subordinate accused of acting inappropriately toward female officers.
Burke’s Navy biography says he is a trained electrical engineer and submariner who served in numerous postings around the world. He was chief of naval personnel, with responsibility for manpower, personnel, training and education, when the events described in the indictment began.
According to the government, Kim and Messenger were co-CEOs of a business named in the indictment only as “Company A,” which provided a workforce training pilot program to a small Navy component from August 2018 through July 2019. Burke supported the program as naval personnel chief, but later that year, the Navy terminated a contract with the company, and in November an aide to Burke directed it not to contact him further because of his new role as vice chief of naval operations and “upcoming contracting actions,” according to the 16-page indictment.
But Kim and Messenger allegedly met with Burke in Washington in July 2021 to revive the company’s Navy business, and agreed that Burke would use his four-star admiral position to steer a sole-source contract to Company A in exchange for a future job. Federal investigators said Burke also allegedly agreed to influence other officers to award another contract to Company A to train a large portion of the Navy, a contract that Kim valued in the “triple digit millions.”
Burke allegedly ordered his staff to award a $355,000 contract to the company in December 2021 to train personnel under his command in Italy and Spain, according to government investigators. He also promoted the company in a failed effort to persuade another senior admiral to award it another contract. Burke also allegedly made false statements to the Navy to create the appearance that he played no role in issuing the contract and to imply that his employment talks began months after the contract was awarded, federal authorities said.
Burke began working at Company A in October 2022 at a yearly starting salary of $500,000 and a grant of 100,000 stock options, the government alleged. That same month, Next Jump announced on Twitter that Burke had become a senior partner at the company. He left the company in early 2023, Parlatore said.
Burke’s attorney rejected the government’s timeline, saying it “frontloads the job offer” to the July 2021 meeting to fit the timeline of a quid pro quo. “The reality is, there was no job accepted at that stage. That happened much, much later,” Parlatore said. He added, “Does it really make sense to offer a $500,000 job to get a $350,000 contract?”
Only one U.S. Navy admiral has ever been found guilty of committing a federal crime while on active duty; Rear Adm. Robert Gilbeau was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2017 for lying to federal agents about his part in the worst corruption scandal in Navy history, involving disgraced defense contractor Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis.
The Justice Department’s handling of the Francis investigation has gotten a black eye, however, after defense attorneys alleged that prosecutors relied on flawed evidence and withheld information favorable to the defense. U.S. prosecutors two weeks ago moved to drop felony charges against five convicted defendants and said as many as two dozen more cases could be affected by an ongoing review of 34 prosecutions, including 29 guilty pleas.
Parlatore said there was no factual connection between Burke’s case and the Leonard investigation, but he raised an eyebrow at the back-to-back moves involving high-profile Navy scandals, saying, “The timing is odd, to indict a high-ranking admiral after the complete implosion of all the Fat Leonard-related convictions due to DOJ’s misconduct.”