By late 2024, FBI investigators had enough evidence to launch a massive corruption probe that could ensnare top lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins. The agency was looking into interactions between Collins and a major donor: Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek.
According to Kao, in 2019, the head of the pro-Collins super PAC met with him and other Navatek executives and asked for a $500,000 donation. Government contractors are prohibited from making political contributions. For the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery.
To circumvent campaign finance laws and conceal the origin of the funds, Kao sent an initial $150,000 to the super PAC using a shell company, claiming he had obtained authorization from his lawyer. The head of the super PAC knew Kao was behind the donation. “Very smart,” he responded in an email viewed by ProPublica.
A few weeks later, Kao told his team that Collins was committed to securing $32 million in naval contracts for the company.
But the FBI saw through the ruse of Kao’s front company. In 2022, a grand jury indicted him for making illegal campaign contributions. Facing years in prison, Kao revealed the entire scheme to the FBI, hoping to reduce his sentence. What he told them has never been made public before.
Kao and his close associates donated nearly $900,000 to dozens of politicians, allowing Navatek to establish operations in a half-dozen states with more than $40 million a year in government funds. Collins, Kao said, was Navatek’s most important patron.
Then President Donald Trump returned to power — and the FBI and Justice Department teams that handled public corruption cases were eviscerated. The investigation failed and the government stopped talking to an informant who had proposed a road map against corruption to Congress.
ProPublica first revealed the existence of the affair.
Collins’ deputy chief of staff said his office “vigorously” denies Kao’s allegations of bribery and pay-for-play and that his office is “fully cooperating” with the FBI. After our article was published, the senator assembled a defense full of incorrect and misleading claims, calling ProPublica’s reporting a “smear” that used “the words of a twice-convicted felon against my office, campaign staff and me.”
ProPublica reviewed a trove of evidence collected by the FBI and thousands of pages of legal records, and interviewed dozens of people familiar with Navatek, its Washington operations and the FBI investigation to conduct our own investigation.
The White House referred us to the FBI. A spokesperson said the FBI “ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins” or his campaign. The FBI spokesperson did not respond to questions about the new phase of the investigation prompted by Kao’s account.
Navatek founder Steven Loui said Kao’s methods were “unethical and illegal” and that the company was in full compliance with law enforcement.
Watch our video to learn more about how we independently corroborated much of Kao’s account.
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