Three former government defense contractors were indicted Thursday for allegedly making illegal donations for Sen. Susan Collins‘ 2020 reelection bid.
The Honolulu-based executives allegedly formed a shell company and used family members to steer money into the Maine Republican’s political action committee. They then reimbursed their cohorts for the donations using government contractor funds, federal prosecutors said .
The feds di🍒d not specify Collins by name, but a 2021 found that the FBI was investigating Navatek CEO Martin Kao for an illegal $150,000 donation to the veteran lawmaker.
Kao, 48, Clifford Chen, 48, and Lawrence “Kahele” Lum Kee, 52 were all named as suspects by the Department of Justice, and faced multiple felony charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States and making conduit political contributions. Federal cඣontractors are barred from donating to federal politica🥂l committees.
They faced five years in prison if convicted🃏, in addition to a $250,000 fine on each count. Kao faced additional charges of making false statements to the Federal Election Committee.
“The campaign had absolutely no knowledge of any of the allegations against Mr. Kao or his associates until a search warrant was reported in the press,” Collins’ representatives told Axios.
Collins, 69, beat back her Democratic challenger by a healthy margin to win her fifth term in 2020 — even as Maine residents handily voted to elect President Joe Biden.