Former prosecutor in 'Fat Leonard' case named to San Diego federal bench – The San Diego Union-Tribune

Robert Huie, a former assistant U.S. attorney who helped lead the early prosecution into the “Fat Leonard” Navy bribery scandal, has been nominated to serve on the San Diego federal bench.
Huie is the fourth nominee to be named by President Joe Biden to the Southern District of California court, which serves San Diego and Imperial counties and until recently had been operating with a half-full bench.
Huie worked as a federal prosecutor in San Diego from 2008 to 2020, specializing in complex fraud and corruption cases. He has tried 20 criminal cases, including those involving bribery, money laundering, international trade, mortgage fraud and drug trafficking, according to his profile at Jones Day, the prestigious private law firm for which he has been working since leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He was part of the team that led the prosecution against Leonard Glenn Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard” for his girth, who was arrested in San Diego in 2013 as part of a sprawling Navy bribery scheme. Francis pleaded guilty, and dozens of others, including high-ranking Navy officers, have been charged, as well.
Huie was also involved in the headline-grabbing prosecution of Mexican tycoon Jose Susumo Azano Matsura, who was charged with operating an illegal campaign contribution scheme.
Huie left San Diego from 2015 to 2018 for an assignment as legal advisor to the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training. He worked at U.S. embassies in North Africa and Eastern Europe “where he focused on counterterrorism and anti-money laundering, working with foreign and U.S. officials on legislative and regulatory reforms, international agreements, and criminal cases,” according to Jones Day. “He also trained hundreds of foreign officials in the justice and financial sectors from over a dozen countries in Africa and Europe.”
At Jones Day, Huie served on firm’s Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement Committee.
Before becoming a prosecutor, Huie worked as a civil litigator at Latham & Watkins and as an attorney at Wiggin and Dana. Between stints at those firms, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes on the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals.

Huie received his bachelor’s degree from Calvin College and graduated from Yale Law School in 2002.
His lifetime nomination as a district judge must be approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and then by a full vote of the Senate. He would replace Judge Michael Anello, who took senior status — a semi-retired position — in 2018.
Biden’s first two picks — Judges Linda Lopez and Jinsook Ohta — were confirmed by the Senate just before the new year. A third, Ruth Montenegro, who currently serves as a federal magistrate judge in El Centro, is awaiting confirmation.
Biden must still name three additional nominees to constitute a full 13-judge bench.
Sign up to get Breaking News email alerts
Get alerts on severe weather, road closures and other major breaking news.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Follow Us
More from this Author
Public Safety
Three units damaged in overnight Oak Park apartment fire

Environment
Tsunami advisory lifted in San Diego after water rises by 1.4 feet in bay

Courts
Seized cellphones uncover breadth of brother-sister Sinaloa cartel cell in San Diego, feds say

Courts
Former corrections officer sentenced for smuggling drugs, phones into prison

Courts
San Diego 9th Circuit judge stepping back, creating opening for Biden nomination

Courts
UC San Diego Health pays $2.98M settlement over claims of unnecessary genetic testing

More in this section
Politics
San Diego paying out $1.1M to two men knocked into deep trench by city firehose
Lawsuits claim city was negligent by running hose across Morena Boulevard, where it tangled with street sweeper

Courts
Woman sentenced to 16 years to life for role in East Village business owner’s killing
Lorena Espinoza, 38, and Kevin Eugene Cartwright, 54, are accused in the 2018 shooting death of Ghedeer “Tony” Radda, 49.

Courts
Former San Diego County employee accused of steering contracts to wife’s company
Chief deputy for information systems at county recorder’s office may have profited by hundreds of thousands of dollars, prosecutors say

Courts
Man pleads not guilty to murder in cousin’s stabbing death at a Sabre Springs park
Uriel Cedillo, 22, is accused of killing Poway resident Fatima Marin Cedillo, 22

Business
Receiver in Champion-Cain case sues Chicago Title, calling it ‘willfully blind’ to acts of fraud
The lawsuit, filed this month, is one of nearly a dozen similar legal claims against Chicago Title, which is accused of being complicit in the $400 million Ponzi scheme orchestrated by former restaurateur Gina Champion-Cain.

Courts
U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in case involving Nazi-looted painting
The hearing centered on whether state or federal law applies to the painting, taken by the Nazis during World War II from a Jewish woman whose heirs settled in La Mesa

Breaking
Public Safety
San Diego police arrest man in connection with body dumped in East Village

Education
Grossmont Union High superintendent to retire

Education
UC San Diego adding 3,310 dorm beds to deal with growth, housing shortage

National Entertainment
Louie Anderson, comic, Emmy winner for ‘Baskets,’ dies at 68

Weather
Wind advisory posted as Santa Anas race toward San Diego

Most read news stories
San Diego paying out $1.1M to two men knocked into deep trench by city firehose

UC San Diego adding 3,310 dorm beds to deal with growth, housing shortage

Obituary: Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen master and political reformer, dies at 95

Family, journalists say farewell to slain Tijuana photojournalist Martínez

Driver strikes, kills 2 pedestrians along San Diego Bay near Liberty Station

Latest
Public Safety
San Diego council committee advances ordinance governing police oversight commission

Aztecs
Aztecs will be rested vs Boise State but Broncos are rolling