The former CEO of a defense contractor told the FBI that he attempted to bribe Maine Sen. Susan Collins using shell companies and straw donors to hide nearly $200,000 in gifts, an article from ProPublica revealed on Tuesday.
Martin Kao told the agency that the donation was part of a nearly $1m effort to influence lawmakers of both parties in states around the country, which ProPublica first reported was backed up with receipts of his donations in FEC filings. The money to Collins’s campaign, Kao claimed to investigators, came directly in response to a request from Collins super PAC director Scott Reed, and resulted in Kao telling his company’s associates in emails that the senator had committed to steering $32m worth of government contracts their way.
