Republican Susan Collins dismisses allegations of corruption as ‘completely false’

Key points

• Susan Collins dismissed corruption allegations as 'completely false' after the FBI examined claims.
• Ex-Navatek CEO Martin Kao claimed he sent $150,000 through a shell company for $32m in naval contracts.
• ProPublica reported the FBI sought a broader bribery investigation in 2024 that later collapsed.

Republican US Senator Susan Collins of Maine has dismissed allegations that she traded federal contracts for campaign cash as 'completely false' after it emerged the FBI examined the claims. The allegations stem from an ethics complaint filed last week by a Maine attorney, and Collins, who is campaigning ahead of November's midterm elections, said they were recycled from 2020 and had been rejected by the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Federal Election Commission.

Collins said the University of Maine, not defense contractor Navatek, asked her to back a research grant, and that she had never heard of the company. She called Navatek's former chief executive, Martin Kao, 'a crook' whom neither she nor the university knew about.

What ProPublica reported

ProPublica reported in September that Kao, Navatek's former president and CEO, told FBI agents and prosecutors that his company won millions in federal funding by bankrolling politicians, with Collins his most important patron. Kao, who is serving 87 months for fraud and campaign finance crimes, claimed the head of Collins's Super Pac asked him for $500,000 in 2019, and that he then sent $150,000 through a shell company.

Kao claimed Collins's office later promised to secure $32m in naval contracts. ProPublica reported that the Senate allocated at least $10m that year based on Navatek's proposals, funding Collins says she backed only because the University of Maine asked her to, but did not report that the full $32m was awarded. The outlet said it reviewed FBI evidence and legal records, interviewed dozens of people, and independently corroborated much of Kao's account.

The allegations are completely false

— Susan Collins

Collins responds to complaint

Pressed on why she would not welcome an ethics inquiry to clear her name, Collins said it was not up to her, and dismissed the complaint as the work of 'partisan Democrats' and Valerie Adams, a lawyer in Maine 'who lost her election' in the June primary to be district attorney. She said she was never interviewed because there was no evidence.

No one in Collins's orbit was charged. Kao declined to be interviewed, and Reed denied discussing Kao or Navatek with Collins or her staff. ProPublica also reported that FBI agents sought to open a broader bribery investigation in 2024, which collapsed after Donald Trump returned to office and purged the bureau's public corruption teams.