Robert Burke, a retired four-star Navy admiral, was arrested Friday for bribery involving a government contract, according to the Department of Justice . Yongchul 'Charlie' Kim and Meghan Messenger, co-CEOs of a company not named by the DOJ who allegedly participated in the scheme to get a government contract in exchange for offering Burke a position with the company, were also arrested, a DOJ press release said. 'The law does not make exceptions for admirals or CEOs.
' In December 2021, Burke allegedly ordered his staff to award the company a $355,000 contract to train Naval personnel under his command in Italy and Spain and made an unsuccessful attempt to convince a senior Naval commander to give them another contract. Burke allegedly implied that he had no role in awarding the contract, and that his discussions with Kim and Messenger didn’t start until after the contract started.