Ex-Hawaii CEO sentenced for illegal donations (to Sen. Susan Collins)

[mountaineer]

Ex-Hawaii CEO sentenced for illegal donations
Peter Boylan, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser via Yahoo News
Sun, October 26, 2025 at 12:05 PM EDT

An ex-Hawaii defense contractor and prominent campaign contributor was sentenced last week to 33 months in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to funnel $205, 600 in illegal campaign contributions to a political action committee and U.S. Senator Susan Collins.

Martin Kao, 51, and 99 % owner of Martin Defense Group LLC, formerly known as Navatek LLC, is already serving 87 months for COVID-19 relief fraud and the sentence he received Monday will run concurrently. ...

Kao and his co-conspirators Clifford Chen, 48, and Lawrence “Kahele ” Lum Kee, 52, created a shell company, the Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers LLC, which they used to make an illegal contribution using government contractor funds to a PAC supporting the election of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

He also enlisted family members as “conduits to make illegal contributions ” to Collins’ campaign committee and then paying them back for those donations using money from Kao’s company, according to federal prosecutors. ...

[mountaineer]

Wall Street Apes
@WallStreetApes
Democrat megadonor caught creating a shell company to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrat Senator Susan Collins

After receiving the money, “Senator Collins proudly announced an $8 million contract between the Pentagon and Navatek” (The donor’s company)

Corporate money was also laundered through family members who then made contributions to Democrat Senator Susan Collins

“A mega-donor to Maine Senator Susan Collins has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison over conspiracy to funnel more than $200,000 in illegal campaign contributions to Senator Collins's campaign and a political action committee supporting her.

Martin Kao was the owner of Navatek. The company is now called Martin Defense Group. He created a shell company called the Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers to make an illegal contribution to a PAC supporting Senator Collins using funds received through federal government contracts.

Kao then took more corporate money and laundered it through six family members to make donations to Senator Collins's 2020 re-election campaign.

Those donations were made in July 2019. In August 2019, Senator Collins proudly announced an $8 million contract between the Pentagon and Navatek. Quote, "As a senior member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, I strongly advocated for the funding that made this research possible."

8:39 PM · Oct 31, 2025

Video at link: https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/1984420036598251910

Yes, I know Collins is not technically a Democrat. I think WallStreetApes used that term intentionally.