Report: Former US Navy commander received bribes including Thai prostitutes, Bangkok Lady Gaga tickets

Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz

The former commander of a US Navy warship has reportedly been relieved of duty for, amongst other offenses, accepting bribes in the form of prostitutes, luxury travel, and Lady Gaga tickets while on port visits to Thailand in 2011 and 2012.

Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz is currently being investigated for bribery involving millions of dollars worth of US government contracts. Misiewicz “used his position to direct warships to ports with lax oversight where GDMA (a Singaporean port services company) was able to overcharge for food, water, fuel and services like waste removal, security and ground transportation,” Time reported.

Misiewicz, interestingly enough, was born in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime, fled to the US, and was adopted and raised by an American woman in the Midwest.

Overcharges amounted to USD2.3 million in port visits to Thailand with the USS Blue Ridge in 2011 and 2012, according to court records. 

In exchange for signing off on the inflated charges, Misiewicz was allegedly plied with prostitutes, luxury travel, and tickets to the Lady Gaga concert at Rajamangala in May 2012.

 GDMA, which facilitated the deals, called one group of prostitutes in Thailand his “Elite Thai Seal Team.”

Click here for the Coconuts Bangkok review of Lady Gaga’s big Bangkok show 🙂



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on