Multiple donors to Susan Collins indicted for illegal straw donor scheme

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-government-contractor-executives-indicted-unlawful-campaign-contributions

Former Government Contractor Executives Indicted for Unlawful Campaign Contributions

Three Hawaii-based executives of a government contractor were indicted today in the District of Columbia for allegedly making unlawful campaign contributions to a candidate for Congress and a political action committee.

According to the indictment, Martin Kao, 48, Clifford Chen, 48, and Lawrence “Kahele” Lum Kee, 52, all of Honolulu, were employed by a defense contractor prohibited from making contributions in federal elections. The defendants allegedly created a shell company and then used that shell company to make an illegal contribution to a political action committee supporting the election of a candidate for the U.S. Senate using government contractor funds. The defendants also allegedly used family members as conduits to make illegal contributions to the campaign committee of the same candidate, and then reimbursed themselves for those donations using funds obtained from their employer.

All three defendants are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to make conduit and government contractor contributions, making conduct contributions, and making government contractor contributions. Kao is also charged with two counts of making false statements for causing the submission of false information to the Federal Election Committee.

Kao, Chen and Lum Kee will make their initial appearance at a later date. If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia, Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Dillard, Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), Mid-Atlantic Field Office, made the announcement.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office and DCIS’s Mid-Atlantic Field Office are investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Lauren Castaldi of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Liz Aloi and Joshua Rothstein of the Fraud, Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.


Background:

FBI Probes Defense Contractor’s Contributions to Sen. Susan Collins

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbi-probes-defense-contractors-contributions-to-sen-susan-collins-11621382437

No paywall
https://archive.fo/DR0gV

WASHINGTON—The FBI is investigating whether a U.S. defense contractor unlawfully directed money to support Sen. Susan Collins, according to a search warrant recently unsealed in federal court.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has searched electronic devices belonging to defense executive Martin Kao seeking evidence that he orchestrated an effort to funnel allegedly illegal contributions to help Ms. Collins, a Maine Republican, in her 2020 reelection bid. Federal law prohibits defense contractors from making contributions to federal elected officials.

Federal agents requested the warrant, unsealed Friday, citing evidence that Mr. Kao, through a personal account and his company’s, reimbursed friends and family members for about $45,000 in donations they made directly to Ms. Collins’s campaign. Such a pattern of behavior would violate a federal law banning donations made in the name of another person. Investigators also allege that Mr. Kao unlawfully directed $150,000 in corporate funds to a super PAC supporting Ms. Collins’s 2020 re-election campaign.

At the time, Mr. Kao was serving as the chief executive of Navatek, a Hawaii-based defense contractor that has since been renamed Martin Defense Group. A spokeswoman for the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

*snip*

[elleng]

1. No sh*t, sherlock.

[onethatcares]

2. flat out bribery

and it's enabled by Citizens United which we actual working citizens will never be able to match because we have too much economic anxiety and not not enough to start different corporations to "contribute" to our elected representatives.

Yeah, I know. Small donations should cover the spread..........I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear that.

[OAITW r.2.0]

10. See my post below.

If only voters contributed, the Republicans fundraising revenue model would be totally inoperative. They'd actually have to work in the voters interests.

[Faux pas]

3. ...

And the plot thickens

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. As a Maine voter, this really is outrageous.

Seems simple to me,,,,only voters in Maine ought to be contributing to anyone running for State or Federal Office in this State, Maybe then, we could get the candidates we deserve , elected to office.

She ran for office promising only 2 terms. That was 26 years ago. A liar, at her core.

[Nevilledog]

5. I'm sure she's concerned about this development.

[Solly Mack]

6. lololol Has she expressed her concern yet?

[Nevilledog]

7. Ha....my post 5

[Solly Mack]

9. Same time, too. lolol

[NCjack]

8. I like it. Like it more if the money trails back to Concerned Susan.

[uponit7771]

11. Yeah, I bet these fuckers get shit tons of dough from Russia too

[Carlitos Brigante]

12. Democratic leadership really should do a redux of that "culture of corruption" theme,

they ran with in the '06 midterms.

And please stop talking about so called "sane republicans". If there ever were any in the last 3-4 decades. They drowned in corny ass, sociapathic, jagoff Grover Norquist's tub, a long time ago.

[yellowcanine]

13. Susan is CONCERNED!

[tavernier]

14. Oh but she's probably learned her lesson

[11 Bravo]

15. Suze will put fresh batteries in her Concern-o-meter and then tell us how she feels.

[Bristlecone]

16. Shocker!