The FBI had a potential congressional bribery case on its hands—then Washington’s favorite disappearing act happened: The investigators disappeared.
FBI Bribery Probe Targeting Susan Collins Died After Trump Gutted Anti-Corruption Unit
FBI investigators had gathered enough evidence by late 2024 to pursue a sweeping bribery investigation involving Sen. Susan Collins and defense contractor Navatek, according to ProPublica. The investigation centered on allegations from former Navatek CEO Martin Kao, who described interactions involving Collins, her political operation, and efforts to secure millions of dollars in federal contracts. Investigators were examining whether political contributions were connected to official actions benefiting the company. Collins’ office vigorously denies the allegations and says it fully cooperated with the FBI.
Kao told investigators that the head of a pro-Collins super PAC met with Navatek executives in 2019 and requested a $500,000 donation. Because federal contractors are prohibited from making political contributions, Kao allegedly routed an initial $150,000 through a shell company after saying he had cleared the arrangement with his lawyer. According to an email reviewed by ProPublica, the super PAC’s leader knew Kao was behind the contribution and responded, “Very smart.” Weeks later, Kao told his team that Collins had committed to helping Navatek obtain $32 million in Navy contracts.
The shell-company arrangement eventually attracted federal scrutiny. In 2022, a grand jury indicted Kao for making illegal campaign contributions, and while facing years in prison, he began providing information to the FBI in hopes of reducing his sentence. Kao described a broader political operation in which he and close associates donated nearly $900,000 to dozens of politicians while Navatek expanded into multiple states and received more than $40 million annually in government funding. Kao told investigators that Collins was the company’s most important political patron.
The investigation’s trajectory changed after Donald Trump returned to the White House. ProPublica reports that the FBI and Justice Department teams responsible for public-corruption investigations were dismantled or sharply reduced, and the inquiry based on Kao’s information ultimately died. The government also stopped communicating with an informant who had offered investigators what ProPublica described as a road map to potential corruption in Congress. The FBI told ProPublica that it “ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins” or her campaign, but did not address questions about the newer phase of the investigation prompted by Kao’s account.
Collins has attacked ProPublica’s reporting as a “smear job,” arguing that the outlet relied on “the words of a twice-convicted felon over my office, campaign staff, and me.” Her deputy chief of staff said the senator’s office “vigorously” denies allegations of bribery or pay-for-play and fully cooperated with investigators. ProPublica says it independently reviewed FBI evidence and thousands of pages of legal records and interviewed dozens of people familiar with Navatek and the investigation. Navatek founder Steven Loui separately said Kao’s methods were “unethical and illegal” and that the company fully complied with law enforcement.
Editor: Maybe the allegations were going nowhere. Maybe they weren’t. Gutting the unit investigating them is one hell of a way to make sure we never find out.
Source: ProPublica