# Navatek Faces Allegations Over $10 Million Contract

ProPublica reports that Navatek CEO Martin Kao told the FBI he arranged campaign contributions in exchange for lawmakers’ support for federal defense funding and contracts, including an alleged effort to steer a **$10 million** contract to Navatek after a 2020 dinner with Senator Lindsey Graham. The reporting says records and interviews corroborated parts of Kao’s account; Graham and other parties disputed or denied wrongdoing. It also describes a related Navy award and a later contract to a company founded by former Navatek executives, which the supplied information does not identify. The allegations are not established findings, but they raise procurement-integrity and oversight concerns for defense agencies and contractors.

- Procurement professionals should distinguish the reported allegations from proven misconduct when assessing vendor or award information; the supplied account does not identify contract or solicitation numbers or establish the disposition of the $10 million effort.
- Defense contractors can use the reporting as a prompt to review internal controls for interactions with public officials, campaign contributions, and documentation of procurement-related communications.
- The later contract’s awardee and details are unspecified, limiting the ability to assess the relationship between that award and the reported Navatek effort from the information provided.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Defense & Military
**Published:** November 03, 2026

### Government Entities
- U.S. Navy (Navy)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- U.S. Senate

### Vendors
- Navatek (Contractor named in allegations concerning a reported effort to steer a federal defense contract)

### Sources
- [In 2020, Lindsey Graham had a secret dinner with executives at the defense firm Navatek. 

Graham agreed to steer a $10 million contract their way, and in exchange, the firm’s CEO pledged thousands for Graham’s campaign coffers, he later told the FBI.
https://t.co/XhfZimv5XQ](https://x.com/propublica/status/2117678270174957868) - twitter-defense