2024年末，联邦调查局调查人员掌握了足够证据，可以展开一场大规模的受贿调查，该调查可能牵扯到包括参议员苏珊·柯林斯在内的多位高层议员。调查局当时正在调查柯林斯与一位重要捐赠者之间的往来：此人便是国防承包商纳瓦泰克公司的首席执行官马丁·高。
In late 2024, FBI investigators had enough evidence to launch a sweeping bribery probe that could ensnare top lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins. The agency was examining interactions between Collins and a top donor: Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek.
据高所述，2019年时，支持柯林斯的超级政治行动委员会负责人曾与他及其他纳瓦泰克高管会面，并请求捐赠50万美元。根据法律规定，政府承包商不得进行政治捐款。倘若纳瓦泰克公司以提供捐款为条件要求柯林斯采取某种官方行动，或者柯林斯接受了这笔捐款，均构成刑事受贿行为。
According to Kao, in 2019, the head of the pro-Collins super PAC met with him and other Navatek execs and asked for a $500,000 donation. Government contractors are banned from making political contributions. For the company to offer donations to Collins in exchange for an official action, or for Collins to accept, would constitute criminal bribery.
为规避竞选资金法并掩盖资金来源，高通过一家空壳公司向该超级政治行动委员会转去了15万美元，并称自己已征询过律师意见。该委员会负责人心知肚明高才是这笔捐款的真正出资者。在ProPublica所获的一份电子邮件中，他回复道：“干得漂亮。”
To skirt campaign finance laws and conceal the source of the funds, Kao sent an initial $150,000 to the super PAC using a shell company, saying he had cleared it with his lawyer. The head of the super PAC knew Kao was behind the donation. “Very smart,” he replied in an email viewed by ProPublica.
几周后，高向其团队透露，柯林斯已承诺为该公司争取到3200万美元的海军合同。
Weeks later, Kao told his team Collins committed to getting the company $32 million in naval contracts.
然而联邦调查局识破了高利用空壳公司掩盖真相的伎俩。2022年，大陪审团以非法进行竞选捐款的罪名对高提起起诉。面临数年监禁的风险，高向联邦调查局全盘交代了整个阴谋，希望借此减轻刑罚。他透露的内容此前从未对外公开。
But the FBI saw through Kao’s shell company ruse. In 2022, a grand jury indicted him for making illegal campaign contributions. Facing years in prison, Kao revealed the full scheme to the FBI, hoping to reduce his sentence. What he told them has never before become public.
高及其亲信共向数十名政界人士捐赠了近90万美元，使得纳瓦泰克公司得以在六个州开展业务，每年还能获得逾4000万美元的政府拨款。高称，柯林斯是纳瓦泰克最重要的靠山。
Kao and his close associates donated nearly $900,000 to dozens of politicians, allowing Navatek to establish operations in half a dozen states with more than $40 million a year in government funds. Collins, Kao said, was Navatek’s most important patron.
随后唐纳德·特朗普重新就任总统，负责处理公共腐败案件的联邦调查局及司法部团队遭到大幅裁撤。这项调查就此中断，政府也不再与这位提供了国会腐败线索的线人进行沟通。此次，ProPublica首次披露了这起案件的存在。
Then President Donald Trump returned to office — and the FBI and Department of Justice teams that handled public corruption cases were eviscerated. The investigation died, and the government stopped talking to an informant who had offered a road map to corruption in Congress. ProPublica revealed the existence of the case for the first time.
柯林斯参议员的副幕僚长表示，其办公室“坚决”否认高所提出的受贿及利益交换指控，并称办公室“全力配合”了联邦调查局的调查。在我们的报道发布后，柯林斯参议员出面辩护，但其中充斥着诸多错误与误导性言论；她称ProPublica的报道是“恶意抹黑”，还称该报道“采信了一个两次被判刑的重罪犯的说法来攻击我的办公室、竞选团队以及我本人”。
Collins’ deputy chief of staff said that her office “vigorously” denies allegations of bribery and pay-for-play made by Kao and that her office “fully cooperated” with the FBI. After our story was published, the senator mustered a defense that was full of incorrect and misleading claims, calling ProPublica’s reporting a “smear job” that took “the words of a twice-convicted felon over my office, campaign staff and me.”
为开展独立调查，ProPublica仔细查阅了联邦调查局收集的大量证据及数千页法律文件，并采访了数十位熟悉纳瓦泰克公司、该公司在华盛顿的业务运作情况以及联邦调查局调查过程的人士。
ProPublica reviewed a trove of evidence gathered by the FBI and thousands of pages of legal records, and interviewed dozens of people familiar with Navatek, its Washington operations and the FBI inquiry to conduct our own investigation.
白宫将我们引荐给联邦调查局。一位发言人称，联邦调查局“最终并未发现任何能证明柯林斯参议员或其竞选团队有违法行为的证据”。不过，对于高所提供信息所引发的新一轮调查，这位发言人并未作出回应。
The White House referred us to the FBI. A spokesperson said the FBI “ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins” or her campaign. The FBI spokesperson did not address questions about the new phase of the investigation prompted by Kao’s account.
纳瓦泰克公司创始人史蒂文·路易指出，高的行事方式“既不道德也违法”，并称公司始终严格遵守法律法规。
Navatek founder Steven Loui said Kao’s methods were “unethical and illegal” and that the company fully complied with law enforcement.