Politics

Susan Collins Pushes Back On Report Accusing Fundraiser Of Working With Convicted Former CEO To Funnel Campaign Funds

Sen. Susan Collins (Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / Wikimedia Commons)

Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins pushed back on a report Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly shut down an investigation in 2025 into whether her political adviser engaged in a campaign funneling scheme with a defense contractor.

Martin Kao, the former CEO of Hawaii-based Navatek, told the FBI in 2022 that he discussed circumventing campaign finance laws with Collins’ fundraiser Scott Reed to illegally funnel money to Collins’ 2020 campaign and a super political action committee (PAC) backing her, ProPublica first reported. He alleged Reed asked him for a $500,000 donation for the pro-Collins super PAC in 2019, prompting Kao to set up a shell entity to route $150,000 to the super PAC.

Around that time, Navatek received an $8 million contract for a boat hull research project, which Collins’ office celebrated in an August 2019 press release. The senator visited the company’s offices in Maine to celebrate the deal and posted a photograph of herself, Kao and others on Facebook holding a model boat, according to ProPublica.

Collins and her campaign were never accused of any wrongdoing in that case. The FBI maintained that its investigation did not uncover much evidence to corroborate Kao’s allegations against Collins and her campaign.

Collins vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to several reporters, including the DCNF.

“This is absolutely outrageous,” Collins said Tuesday. “It’s clearly a political hit job. There was a very similar story involving the same person while he was awaiting sentencing six years ago, and it’s very frustrating and unfair to have it brought up this close to the election. It’s truly outrageous. The person making the allegations, Martin Kao, has been twice convicted in separate federal courtrooms. He’s been convicted of money laundering, he’s been convicted of bank fraud, he’s been convicted of a lot of crimes. He is a liar.”

“The charges are outrageous and are completely false and the Biden Justice Department concluded that, as did the current Justice Department. Twice, the FBI has said that this is completely false,” Collins continued.

Collins’ campaign did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. The White House referred the DCNF to the FBI.

Collins’ deputy chief of staff, Annie Clark, said the allegations were “categorically false” and that Kao made baseless accusations against Collins.

“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,” Clark said. “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,” Clark continued.

Clark said the campaign returned the illegal contributions made by Kao.

“While the FBI does not comment on investigative procedures, the allegations made in this article had already been investigated by the FBI years ago and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign,” the FBI told the DCNF. “Any suggestion otherwise is totally false. Furthermore, as we have said repeatedly, personnel are only removed at this FBI if they have been found to have acted unethically, undermined the mission, or engaged in weaponization of law enforcement. Any suggestion otherwise is false.”

Kao is serving a 33-month prison sentence for improperly funneling $200,000 in campaign contributions to Collins’ 2020 campaign and the super PAC. He is also serving an 87-month sentence for wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud after obtaining $12 million in COVID-19 relief funds.

Kao allegedly provided FBI agents in 2024 with a list of lobbyists, members of Congress and congressional staffers who he claimed helped him trade cash for contracts, according to ProPublica. The agents reportedly had enough evidence “to pursue a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers of both political parties.” They allegedly asked Kao extensive questions about his dealings with Collins and her office.

An inquiry into Collins’ campaign opened during former President Joe Biden’s administration and closed under President Donald Trump’s current administration when senior bureau officials questioned the reliability of Kao’s allegations, according to The New York Times. Current and former officials familiar with the investigation said agents did not uncover much evidence to corroborate Kao’s claims against Collins and her adviser, but said it was possible more could have been uncovered if the investigation developed further.

ProPublica suggested that Trump’s cuts to public corruption teams in the FBI led to the shutdown of the investigation.

“The specialized FBI and DOJ teams handling public corruption investigations, some of which were involved in Trump-related cases, were eviscerated,” ProPublica reported. “One of the agents who had taken Kao’s confession was pushed out as retribution for her role in investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Dozens of agents and prosecutors quit amid the department’s destruction, including the career attorney assigned to Kao’s case.”

Collins is facing a competitive race against Democratic Maine Senate nominee Troy Jackson, who entered the race after former Democratic Maine Senate nominee Graham Platner dropped out over sexual assault allegations.