Article: FBI probing federal contractor’s donations to Sen. Collins’ campaign

Article - Media, Publications

FBI probing federal contractor’s donations to Sen. Collins’ campaign

Dennis Hoey, Portland Press Herald, Maine, 19 May 2021

A Department of Defense contractor with ties to Maine is under investigation by the U.S. government for allegedly making illegal contributions to Sen. Susan Collins’ 2020 re-election campaign.

An FBI search warrant in the investigation names Martin Kao and Clifford Chen. Kao is the former president and CEO of Hawaii-based Navatek — now known as Martin Defense Group — and Chen was Navatek’s chief financial officer at the time the contributions were made. The contractor is based in Honolulu and has offices in Maine, Washington, D.C., Rhode Island, Michigan, Oklahoma, Kansas and South Carolina.

Kao and Chen are accused of making illegal contributions of about $45,000 to Collins’ re-election campaign and $150,000 to the independently operated 1820 PAC, which supported the Republican’s re-election bid. Donations of that nature constitute violations of federal law that prohibit federal contractors from making political contributions, according to FBI Special Agent Michelle Ball, who filed an application for a search warrant on April 7. The warrant, which had to be executed before April 21, was authorized by U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey. Continue reading “Article: FBI probing federal contractor’s donations to Sen. Collins’ campaign”

Article: Caught in a bear trap: How ‘short and distort’ attacks are costing Australian investors billions

Article - Media

Caught in a bear trap: How ‘short and distort’ attacks are costing Australian investors billions

Adele Ferguson

Sydney Morning Herald,

Australia has become a paradise for a new, aggressive form of short selling. And regulators’ failure to act is costing investors billions.

Dubbed the “short and distort” gang, a group of largely foreign-based research houses issue highly damaging reports, designed to cause maximum damage to the companies they target.

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