Senator Collins’ office says we “took the word of someone who pled guilty,” but ProPublica conducted its own investigation of the former CEO’s assertions. We have the receipts.
Our reporters independently corroborated much of the account by former Navatek CEO Martin Kao by reviewing a trove of evidence, legal records and interviewing dozens of people. And we reported that anti-corruption agents at the FBI were asking questions about Susan Collins as recently as late 2024. But after the reelection of President Trump, the FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption probes were dismantled.
Here is the full story:
propublica.org/article/fbi-s…
ALT Excerpt from article: ProPublica is revealing the existence of the case for the first time. We reviewed a trove of evidence gathered by the FBI and thousands of pages of legal records, and interviewed dozens of people familiar with Navatek, its Washington operations, and the FBI inquiry to conduct our own investigation. We independently corroborated much of Kao’s account. Whether or not Kao’s dealings with politicians amount to criminal bribery, the Trump Justice Department has little interest in finding out, and his sheer success reveals how easily influence is purchased in Washington today. This is the first in a series of stories drawn from our reporting.
ALT Emails Between Martin Kao and Scott Reed, Discussing Contributions to the Susan Collins Super PAC, 1820 PAC
“Hi Scott: Had a chance to discuss 1820 with my CFO and attorney last night. They are suggesting setting up a separate new LLC to make the donations. Name of new LLC: Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers.
In my personal real estate investments, we often use LLCs that can be set up to "facilitate" transactions. They are super vague and very difficult to get any background info on. Totally legal and typically used in real estate transactions to conceal the identity of buyer/seller. Wanted to get your thoughts/concerns.”
— email from Martin Kao to Scott Reed, Nov. 22, 2019
“Very smart and glad your counsel understands. Thanks for doing this.”
— email from Scott Reed to Martin Kao, Nov. 22, 2019
“Great! We will proceed on getting this set up ASAP. Have a nice weekend.”
— email from Martin Kao to Scott Reed, Nov. 22, 2019
The seven-year-old allegations made against Senator Collins and her staff in this piece are categorically false. There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation.
ProPublica took the word of someone who pled guilty to five counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and making false submissions to the FEC. As Martin Kao was awaiting sentencing, he began making outlandish charges about the Collins office, deflecting blame from himself and placing it on Senator Collins, including alleging that our office required contributions before taking meetings and engaged in extortion, pay for play, and bribery. The FBI and the Court obviously did not believe Kao, and in 2025 he was sentenced in two separate cases to prison terms of seven years and three years to be served concurrently, as well as an additional five years of supervised release at the end of his prison term.
It is important to note that during the Biden Administration the FBI and the Department of Justice thoroughly investigated the Navatek matter. The Collins campaign cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings. In response to the allegations in the ProPublica piece, the FBI clearly stated that a suggestion of wrongdoing by Senator Collins or her staff is “totally false.”
These issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then.
