When the investigative news outlet ProPublica reported on Sen. Susan Collins’ ties to a disgraced convicted fraudster, the outlet wrote about how Scott Reed, a key figure in Collins’ political orbit, may have been aware of a scheme to direct an illegal straw donation to the Republican senator from Maine.

But Reed, who heads the pro-Collins Pine Tree Results Super PAC, wasn’t the only Collins ally who may have known of the plan.

MacKenzie Dolan, who co-founded The Morning Group, worked in 2020 with the 1820 PAC, the main pro-Collins Super PAC.

A federal investigator said both Dolan and Reed received an email sent Dec. 13, 2019, from the fraudster, Navatek CEO Martin Kao, updating them on his plans to create a shell company to make a donation to the PAC.

The investigator said in court documents that Kao sent the email from an address associated with a “navatekllc.com.”“I just received confirmation from our bank that the new account for the Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers will be up and ready to go by early next week,” Kao wrote. “I’ll be in touch next week re getting 1820 a check by year end.”The group sent a $150,000 check to the PAC about two weeks later, ProPublica reported.

This cycle, Collins for Senator has paid Dolan’s firm, The Morning Group, at least $300,000 for fundraising services in 2025-26. And the firm has received at least $1.1 million from Pine Tree Results PAC. The Morning Group was also hired by Reed and the 1820 PAC during the 2020 cycle.

Neither Reed, Dolan nor Collins has been accused of or charged with wrongdoing by authorities during their investigation into Kao, who is currently in prison for money laundering and bank fraud. Kao pleaded guilty to charges relating to the illegal contribution in 2022.

But Collins’ ongoing relationship with Reed and Dolan may give critics more fodder in their attempts to cast Collins as corrupt in the closing weeks of Maine’s closely watched and tight U.S. Senate race against Democrat Troy Jackson.

Collins campaign spokesperson Blake Kernen said in a written statement that Reed and Dolan were “thoroughly investigated” and “cleared by the FBI in 2021.”“Martin Kao was the guilty party and he was sentenced to seven years in federal prison,” Kernen said. “Martin Kao tried to get his sentence reduced by blaming Senator Collins, her staff, Scott Reed and MacKenzie Dolan for his criminal conduct. The FBI, the Biden Department of Justice, and the Federal Election Commission didn’t believe him and the judge did not offer him any leniency.”A spokesperson for The Morning Group declined to speak with a reporter on Monday.

Democrats are working to keep the ProPublica story in the headlines. The Senate Majority PAC, which is tied to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., issued a Sept. 29 memo outlining its plan to tie political corruption to increased living costs in an effort to sway a small number of undecided voters. And they’ve put millions behind an ad campaign here highlighting the ProPublica story.

Local Democrats held a press conference outside of Collins’ office in response to the report. And a Democratic attorney has filed a formal ethics complaint against Collins.

Collins has also leveled corruption allegations against her opponent, former Senate President Troy Jackson, accusing him of using his influence to help his son, who was an Augusta lobbyist while Jackson was in power. Jackson has denied that his son had any influence over his legislative agenda.

But much of the focus has been on Collins’ orbit, with the candidate getting questions about Kao at each of last week’s two Senate debates.

Numerous outlets have reported that Reed, who was the leader of the 1820 PAC that secured Kao’s illegal donation, is leading Pine Tree Results.

Reed is also a close friend of Collin’s husband, Tom Daffron, who was paid for consulting work last year by Reed’s firm, Chesapeake Enterprises.

FEC records show that the Collins Victory Committee has joint fundraising agreements with Pine Tree Results and with other Collins committees — her principal campaign committee (Collins for Senator) and her leadership committee (Dirigo PAC.) But the ties between the 2020 donation and Dolan have received less scrutiny.

A federal search warrant from April 7, 2021, said that Reed and Dolan were “associated with the 1820 PAC,” and that they received the email from Kao about the bogus Society of Young Women Scientists and Engineers group. As a federal contractor, Kao was prohibited from making political contributions.

ProPublica’s investigation cited emails showing that Kao had told Reed he was working with his attorney to create the Young Women Scientists group to obscure the donation. “Very smart,” Reed replied, according an email reviewed by ProPublica.

Collins campaign manager Steve Abbott dismissed that exchange when speaking to reporters last month, though he said he did not have any firsthand knowledge of the conversation between Kao and Reed.

“I might also say the same thing if I were trying to do something and had consulted with my attorney,” Abbott said. “I would also say that that is very smart, but I have no idea what any of their conversations were or what was said.”ProPublica reported that a staffer for the 1820 PAC requested contact information for Kao on Collins’ behalf so she could thank him. Abbott said Collins’ office has no record that Collins made such a call.

Collins’ campaign has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and accused ProPublica of trusting a convicted felon‘s word. The investigation was based in part on what Kao told federal investigators in an effort to earn a lighter sentence.

But the outlet has pushed back, saying that federal investigators corroborated some of Kao’s claims and wanted to launch a wider probe — a move that was thwarted when Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025.