In late 2019, Senator Susan Collins faced a significant risk of losing her Senate seat due to President Trump's low approval ratings and fundraising difficulties. Scott Reed, head of Collins' super PAC, met with executives from Hawaiian defense contractor Navatek at a Washington D.C. coffee shop where he solicited a $500,000 donation on behalf of the senator. The company planned to funnel the money through a shell corporation to avoid legal repercussions and in exchange for federal contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. Three years later, facing criminal charges himself, Navatek’s CEO Martin Kao confessed this scheme to FBI agents and prosecutors, leading to an investigation that was ultimately halted when Trump returned to office and purged the FBI, preventing further revelations about political corruption.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-22,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Reporting Highlights
- Probe: In 2024, the FBI sought to launch a sweeping pay-to-play investigation examining interactions between Sen. Susan Collins and a top donor, records and emails show.
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records → seek → Collins
- Confession: The donor, an ex-defense contractor, told agents his company won millions in federal contracts by bankrolling campaigns of powerful politicians.
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company → tell → politicians
- Shutdown: After Donald Trump returned to office, the investigation died, a casualty of his purge of the FBI.
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investigation → return → FBI
Its closure shut a potential window into how Washington works.
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Washington → shut → window
These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
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who → write → story
In the final weeks of 2019, a top fundraiser for Sen. Susan Collins walked into a perilous meeting at a Corner Bakery in Washington, D.C.
For the first time in her two-decade Senate career, the Republican lawmaker from Maine was in danger of losing her seat.
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lawmaker → walk → seat
President Donald Trump’s dismal approval ratings were dragging her down in the polls, and she was falling behind her likely 2020 Democratic challenger in fundraising.
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she → drag → fundraising
Scott Reed, head of the Collins super PAC, was on a mission to close that gap.
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Reed → close → gap
Reed was meeting that day with three executives from a Hawaiian defense contractor, Navatek.
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Reed → meet → contractor
A year earlier, Collins had helped their company land a multimillion-dollar Navy research contract in Maine.
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company → help → Maine
Now, seated at a coffee shop not far from the U.S. Capitol, Reed asked them for a $500,000 donation.
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Reed → seat → donation
Government contractors are banned from making political contributions.
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contractors → ban → contributions
More consequentially, for the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for an official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery.
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Collins → offer → bribery
But the company did have such a proposal: Navatek was hungry for more government contracts in Maine.
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Navatek → have → Maine
If they cut a big check, the CEO told Reed, Navatek wanted Collins to guarantee tens of millions of dollars in additional federal funding.
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Collins → cut → funding
To skirt campaign finance laws and conceal the source of the funds, Navatek planned to funnel the donation through a shell company.
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Navatek → skirt → company
The CEO wanted assurance that Collins would know where the money came from.
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money → want → where
Reed confirmed that she would, the executive said — and that Navatek would get its government contracts.
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Navatek → confirm → contracts
After the Corner Bakery meeting, Navatek’s CEO, Martin Kao, sent an initial $150,000 to the Collins super PAC using the shell company.
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CEO → send → 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 reviewed by ProPublica.
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Collins → tell → ProPublica
Three years later, Kao holed up in a conference room to recount the Corner Bakery meeting to a group of four FBI agents and federal prosecutors.
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Kao → hole → agents
The FBI had seen through his shell company ruse, and in 2022 a grand jury indicted him for making illegal campaign contributions.
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jury → see → contributions
No one working for Collins was charged.
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one → work → Collins
Facing years in prison, Kao hoped to do less time by revealing the entire scheme.
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Kao → face → scheme
What he told them has never before become public.
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told → tell → them
The Corner Bakery meeting, he asserted, was just one episode in a sprawling pay-to-play operation that embroiled some of the most powerful figures in Congress.
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that → assert → Congress
Over three days at the U.S. attorney’s office in Honolulu, Kao laid out in devastating detail how his operation worked.
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operation → lay → detail
He gave agents a 50-page document naming dozens of lobbyists, congressional staffers and members of Congress who he said helped him trade cash for contracts.
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he → give → contracts
Kao and his close associates had donated nearly $900,000 to dozens of politicians, allowing Navatek to establish operations in half a dozen states with over $40 million a year in government funding.
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Navatek → donate → funding
Do You Have Information About Political Dealmaking in Washington?
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You → have → Washington
We’re still reporting on pay-for-play arrangements between powerful companies and elected officials.
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We → report → companies
I want to hear from you.
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I → want → you
The best way to reach me is on Signal at 804-295-7201.
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way → reach → 7201
Most damningly, Kao told FBI agents and prosecutors, the company’s work for the government was of no real value.
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work → tell → value
Navatek’s research under his stewardship never resulted in products the military wanted to buy, ProPublica found.
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ProPublica → result → products
Kao’s tell-all interviews with the FBI lasted into late 2024.
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interviews → tell → 2024
His confessions opened up an entirely new phase of the investigation.
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confessions → open → investigation
Agents sifted through hundreds of thousands of records seized during Kao’s arrest and found that many were consistent with his account of widespread influence peddling.
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many → sift → peddling
Kao had credibility issues.
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Kao → have → issues
He was now a felon trying to avoid a lengthy prison sentence.
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He → try → sentence
…and 286 more, not listed.
The Aporia
