'Incredible Story of Corruption': Bombshell Report Puts Susan Collins at Center of Massive Bribery Scheme
In late 2019, according to ProPublica, the head of a pro-Collins super PAC, Scott Reed, met with then-Navatek CEO Martin Kao and other executives at a Washington, DC bakery and asked them for a $500,000 donation to the longtime Maine senator's 2020 reelection bid.
"If they cut a big check, the CEO told Reed, Navatek wanted Collins to guarantee tens of millions of dollars in additional federal funding," ProPublica reported. "After the Corner Bakery meeting, [Kao] sent an initial $150,000 to the Collins super PAC using the shell company. Two months later, he told Navatek executives that Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts, according to an internal company email."
In 2022, Kao pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions. The $150,000 check to the pro-Collins group, the 1820 PAC, was funneled through an entity titled "the Society of Young Women Scientist [sic] and Engineers." The money flowed from Navatek's account, violating the ban on federal government contractors making campaign donations.
ProPubulica revealed that Kao, facing years in federal prison, handed FBI agents "a 50-page document naming dozens of lobbyists, congressional staffers, and members of Congress who he said helped him trade cash for contracts." Kao also told federal agents that Navatek’s federally funded research "was of no real value," according to ProPublica.
"Of all the politicians Navatek courted under Kao’s leadership, Collins was its most important patron," the investigative outlet reported. "The senator’s office steered government contracts worth millions toward the company while her campaign was pumping Kao and his network for donations, according to emails seen by ProPublica. Sometimes they cut checks within 24 hours of the annual defense spending bill, which funds military contracts, clearing a key Senate hurdle."
Collins, who is currently running for a sixth Senate term, denied allegations of bribery through a spokesperson, who dismissed Kao's claims as "outlandish" and said the Collins campaign "disgorged the illegal contributions that Martin Kao had made without our knowledge."
But ProPublica's reporting details, with documentary evidence, Collins' yearslong relationship with Kao, who first met the Maine senator face-to-face in 2018.
"In that first meeting with Collins and her staff, Kao pitched an $8 million boat hull research project for Navatek and [the University of Maine]. Collins seemed supportive," the outlet noted. Kao funneled donations to Collins' campaign, and the senator later included funding for Navatek's project in the annual US military budget.
"Emails showed her staff made it clear to the Navy that it should send the money to Navatek," ProPublica reported.
The outlet also revealed the details of a 2019 meeting between Kao, Collins, and Amy Abbott, who was then serving as the campaign finance director for the senator's 2020 reelection campaign. The meeting took place before an event at Navatek's Maine headquarters, where Collins posed for pictures with Kao.
"Before the event, Kao said, Collins, Abbott, and another staffer met with him in private," ProPublica reported. "One of the staffers told Kao the campaign expected more donations. It was in this meeting that Collins said, 'You’ve seen me deliver,' he told the FBI."
Martin Kao, second from left, was pictured with Sen. Susan Collins during an event in August 2019. (Photo: Sen. Susan Collins/Facebook)
Avi Asher-Schapiro, one of four ProPublica reporters who bylined the bombshell story, lamented that "we may never know the full story" of the large-scale bribery scheme alleged by Kao because the Trump administration "took a wrecking ball to the FBI teams and DOJ lawyers specializing in these cases—everyone who worked it is gone."
"And as far as we know," Asher-Schapiro added, "the FBI abandoned a witness who might have been able to expose a generational corruption scandal."
The report was published just weeks before the November midterms, when Collins will attempt to retain her seat against former Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson, who has said that billionaires and corporate-funded super PACs "have her in their pockets."
