Judge rules against 2 Navy captains seeking reduced charges in ‘Fat Leonard’ corruption case

Two former U.S. Navy captains who admitted taking bribes as part of the “Fat Leonard” corruption scandal have lost their bids to have their felony convictions vacated in the wake of prosecutorial misconduct that tainted the late stages of the long-running case.

David Williams Haas and Jesús Vasquez Cantú, both of whom served time in federal prison for their roles in the Navy’s worst-ever bribery scandal, cited the government misconduct in seeking to have their felony convictions thrown out. They sought instead to be allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges, as some others in the case had been allowed to do.

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino ruled Friday that the misconduct by prosecutors in the case, which the government has ac...