WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury has acquitted two business executives of charges that they conspired to bribe a retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral, who is now serving a six-year prison sentence for his conviction on corruption charges.An earlier trial for Next Jump co-CEOs Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger ended last year with a hung jury and a mistrial. Their retrial in Washington, D.C., ended Monday with a jury acquitting them of all charges, including conspiracy and bribery, court records show.Prosecutors accused Kim and Messenger of bribing retired Adm. Robert P. Burke for a military contract in exchange for a lucrative postretirement job. Burke — once the second-highest uniformed officer in the Navy — was commanding its forces in Europe and Africa when he engaged in the alleged plot.Prosecutors claimed Kim and Messenger agreed to pay Burke a $500,000 salary with stock options projected to be worth millions of dollars. In exchange, they alleged, Burke ordered his staff to give a contract to Next Jump and promoted the company’s product to other senior Navy commanders.
In 2018, Next Jump had a multimillion-dollar Navy contract to provide workforce training to an office under Burke’s command. But the Navy terminated the “poorly received” pilot program after approximately one year, prosecutors said.
