Daniel Dusek provided the information in exchange for luxury hotel stays and the services of prostitutes.

Dusek was also ordered to pay a $70,000 (£50,000) fine and $30,000 in restitution to the navy.

He is the highest-ranking officer to be charged in one of the US military's worst bribery scandals.

Sentencing Dusek in San Diego, California to 46 months in prison, Judge Janis Sammartino said: "It is truly unimaginable to the court that someone in your position with the United States Navy would sell out based on what was provided to you - hotel rooms, entertainment and the services of prostitutes."

Dusek, 49, who pleaded guilty in January 2015 to conspiracy to commit bribery, told the court he would never forgive himself for his actions.

The former captain was among several current and former naval officers charged in the scandal that involved tens of millions of dollars in bribes. At one point, Dusek served as deputy director of operations for the US 7th Fleet.

The man at the centre of the scandal, contractor Leonard Francis, plead guilty in the case last year, admitting that his Singapore-based port services company, Glenn Defence Marine Asia (GDMA), plied Dusek and others with meals, alcohol, luxury hotel stays and other gifts to ensure US Navy ships stopped at ports where GDMA operated.

In one instance, Dusek arranged for an aircraft carrier - the USS Abraham Lincoln - to stop at Port Klang, Malaysia, a port terminal owned by Francis. The 2010 port visit cost the United States about $1.6 million, officials said.

"Captain Dusek's betrayal is the most distressing because the navy placed so much trust, power and authority in his hands," said US Attorney Laura Duffy.

"This is a fitting sentence for a man who was so valuable that his conspirators labelled him their 'golden asset'," she added.

Mr Cruz told reporters that Mr Trump was behind a story in the National Enquirer that alleged Mr Cruz has had extramarital affairs.

Mr Cruz called the story "garbage, complete and utter lies".

"It is a tabloid smear and it has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen."

As evidence that Mr Trump planted the story, Mr Cruz pointed out that the only person quoted by name in the Enquirer story was Roger Stone, a former top adviser to the Trump campaign.

He also noted that Mr Trump and National Enquirer CEO David Pecker are close friends.

Ted Cruz came out swinging on Friday, condemning the Trump campaign in the strongest possible terms. Some of those terms may require additional explanation.

"He is a man for whom a term was coined for copulating with a rodent," Mr Cruz said of Roger Stone, a former Trump adviser. "Well let me be clear, Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him."

What?

Mr Cruz is referring to an obscene rat-themed euphemism for political dirty tricks. Mr Stone is credited with coining the phrase.

Mr Stone got his start in politics working for President Richard Nixon. He later lost a position with Senator Bob Dole after a newspaper columnist named him as one of Nixon's "dirty tricksters". Such tricks included ordering hundreds of pizzas to be delivered to rival campaigns, cancelling opponents' rallies, and engaging in deplorable behaviour while pretending to represent other candidates.

Through the years, Mr Stone worked for various Republican politicians including Ronald Reagan. And he's never shed his reputation for hardball attacks.

In a 2007 profile in the Weekly Standard, Mr Stone was dubbed the "boastful black prince of Republican sleaze".

Asked whether he would still support Mr Trump, the current front-runner, if he won the Republican nomination, Mr Cruz did not answer directly.

But the Texas senator said: "I'm not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and my family."

"I had absolutely nothing to do with it," Mr Trump said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the candidates, who had been on good terms earlier in the campaign, began trading insults on Twitter.

Mistakenly believing the Cruz campaign had produced an attack advert about his wife Melania, Mr Trump on Twitter threatened to "spill the beans" on Mr Cruz's wife, Heidi.

Mr Cruz responded saying his campaign did not produce the advert, calling Mr Trump "classless" and a "coward".

The next day, Mr Trump continued, posting an unflattering photo of Mrs Cruz on Twitter.

Mr Cruz responded, calling Mr Trump a "snivelling coward" and told him to "leave Heidi the hell alone"

The US Commerce Department revised its fourth quarter GDP to upward from an initial estimate of 0.7%.

Overall, the US economy is estimated to have grown at a rate of 2.4% for all of 2015.

One reason for the revised figure was greater consumer spending than officials initially thought, boosted by an improving labour market.

Analysts had expected the fourth quarter growth rate to remain unchanged from the last estimate of 1%.

"It's especially good that we saw a boost in consumption, however we are only talking about 1.4% growth, which is still anaemic compared to the 3.5% we would like to see," said Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes North America.

"The economy is still running in low gear," he said.

Increased employment has helped to slowly boost wages and housing prices, while low oil prices have increased discretionary spending by US households.

The stronger growth rate could increase the chances of an interest rate hike when the Federal Reserve meets in April. The central bank left rates unchanged at its meeting in March, saying the slowing global economy raised risks for the US market.

US corporate profits dipped 11.5% for the fourth quarter compared to the same October through December period in the previous year.

Companies were hurt by low oil prices, with some industrial and petroleum linked companies forced to cut their workforces or file for bankruptcy.