Steven Loui
Role at the time: Founder of Navatek, in a statement to ProPublica
Statement summary
Steven Loui, who founded Navatek and later regained control of the company after selling it to Martin Kao, said Kao's approach to winning contracts was unethical and illegal and a departure from how he ran the company before selling it, and said Navatek received no Collins-supported funding after Kao's arrest.
“The company received no Collins-supported funding after Martin Kao's arrest, nor should it. What Martin Kao and his cabal did was wrong.”
Anchor investigation reporting previously undisclosed FBI cooperation interviews, internal company emails, campaign and lobbying communications, and responses from Collins's office, the FBI, Scott Reed, Glen Mandigo, Andy Winer and Steven Loui. The article says Kao had credibility incentives and that no one working for Collins was charged.
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Loui condemns Kao's individual conduct and distances the company he founded from it, but does not address whether Collins herself was aware of or complicit in the arrangement. This reframes the wrongdoing as Kao's alone rather than directly evaluating Collins's conduct, so it challenges the scope of the allegation rather than condemning or excusing Collins.