Big Eddie Scandal

The Big Eddie Scandal was a major defence scandal that took place within the UNSC Navy between 2512-2527. It involved 2 defence contractors, ship support contractor Hadrian Defense Solutions as well as Battenhouse DEC, both subsidiaries of major defence conglomerate Able and Cain Defense. It was labelled by The Daily Bulletin as the biggest scandal and perhaps the biggest breach of UNSC security in it's history. It emerged that the owner of Able and Cain Defense, chairman Edward C. Sykes had bribed a number of officers within the UNSC Navy, the CMA and the Office of Naval Intelligence with millions of credits, funding paid leaves, luxury items, parties, prostitutes, drugs and variety of other rationed items in exchange for classified ship movements which he used, with the help of various moles, to direct UNSC Naval vessels to his ports in order to more easily charge the Navy for food, fuel, tugs and variety of other services including oxygen filter maintenance and sewage removal provided by Hadrian Defense Solutions. He also arranged for various Navy Admirals and Captains to send letters of recommendation to improve the reputation of his companies despite the poor service which, it was later discovered, they provided with inadequate cleaning of oxygen filters on the CMA Joseph Wright having caused a number of sailors suffering from asthma to have severe injuries. 
It was also discovered that Sykes had bribed a number of officials in the CMA Naval Procurement Department in order to fast track the introduction of the Battenhouse GY274 Mk VI, a Series IV Coden Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine installed in the Hermes-Class Surveillance Cruisers without undertaking a variety of safety tests as well as the usual inspections by the CMA's own Testing Branch. It was later discovered, when inspected by Naval Logistics Operations Command when the Hermes were seized by the UNSC Navy, that the Battenhouse GY274 Mk VI housed severe defects in it's design which made it incredibly unstable and liable for accidents. However, this discovery came too late to save the crew of the UNSC Vesta which suffered a catastrophic accident which led to the loss of the whole vessel and the deaths of 934 personnel. 
The UNSC Navy filed criminal charges against over 273 individuals who were connected to the scandal, 146 pleaded guilty: Edward C Sykes himself, a number of aides, over 12 CMA and UNSC Admirals including the Commander of CENTCOM THIRTY-TWO, 3 ONI Agents and a variety of other Navy personnel. Additionally, a number of other UNSC Navy Officials were charged under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and underwent court martial proceedings. As of 2560, 184 were handed jail sentences whilst a variety of others were handed with a variety of fines whilst a number of Navy Officials were demoted to Ensign and dishonourably dismissed from the Navy.