Retired U.S. Navy admiral charged in bribery scheme with tech CEOs for $500,000 salary

• A retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral, who was once the military branch's second-highest-ranking officer, was arrested for a bribery scheme with two New York-based tech CEOs, the Department of Justice announced.
• Former Admiral Robert Burke allegedly used his high-ranking status in the Navy to help Next Jump co-CEOs Yongchul "Charlie" Kim and Meghan Messenger win hundreds of thousands of dollars in military contracts.
• Burke is planning to dispute the charges and plead not guilty in Washington D.C. court in the coming weeks.

A retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral, who was once the military branch's second-highest-ranking officer, was arrested on Friday for a bribery scheme with two tech CEOs, the Department of Justice announced.

From 2020 to 2022, Robert Burke, a 62-year-old resident of Coconut Creek, Fla., allegedly used his high-ranking status in the Navy to help Yongchul "Charlie" Kim and Meghan Messenger, the co-CEOs of New York-based workplace tech platform Next Jump, win military contracts, according to the DOJ.

In 2021, Burke allegedly told his staff to award Kim and Messenger a $355,000 military contract. In exchange, Kim and Messenger allegedly promised Burke employment at their company in the future.

In 2022, Burke started working as a senior partner at Next Jump with a starting annual salary of $500,000 and 100,000 stock options, the DOJ said.

"Admiral Burke disputes these charges," Burke's attorney Timothy Parlatore told CNBC on Saturday. "We will be demanding a trial where we expect that he will be found not guilty."

Parlatore confirmed that Next Jump was awarded a $355,000 military contract and that Burke later went on to work for Next Jump for $500,000 a year. But whether one alleged was a bribe for the