Summary
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., acquitted two Next Jump executives of charges prosecutors tied to an alleged bribery scheme involving retired Adm. Robert P. Burke, according to court records. The jury found Yongchul “Charlie” Kim and Meghan Messenger not guilty of all counts in their retrial after an earlier trial ended with a hung jury and mistrial.
Prosecutors had accused Kim and Messenger of conspiring to bribe Burke, who at the time held a senior command role in the Navy and was later convicted in a separate trial on corruption charges. In the government’s account, the bribery arrangement involved a promised postretirement job for Burke in exchange for official actions related to a government contract.
The prosecutors’ theory was that Kim and Messenger agreed to pay Burke a $500,000 salary plus stock options projected to be worth millions of dollars. In return, prosecutors said Burke ordered staff to award a contract to Next Jump and promoted the company’s product to other senior Navy commanders.
The alleged scheme was linked to a 2018 Next Jump contract to provide workforce training to an office under Burke’s command. Prosecutors said the Navy later terminated the “poorly received” pilot program after about one year.
Kim and Messenger were retried in Washington after an earlier trial last year ended without a verdict. Their retrial concluded Monday, with the jury acquitting them of the charges, including conspiracy and bribery.
The developments came alongside the separate case in which a jury convicted Burke on four counts, including conspiracy and accepting a bribe. Burke, 64, is serving a six-year prison sentence and is due to be released in November 2029, according to Bureau of Prisons records.
In statements reported after the verdict, Messenger’s attorney Reed Brodsky argued there was no link between Burke’s job offer and the contract. Brodsky described the acquittals as “a testament to the power of truth and the integrity of the American justice system,” and the defense also said it was grateful to the jury for its deliberations.
Kim’s attorney, William Burck, similarly said “justice prevailed,” adding in a statement that “In the end, the jury didn’t believe that Charlie Kim and Meghan Messenger bribed anyone.”