FBI investigated whether Graham, Clyburn were involved in bribery scheme: Report

The FBI investigated whether South Carolina’s late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) and Rep. James Clyburn (D) were involved in a bribery scheme in connection to Hawaiian naval defense contractor Navatek acquiring federal contracts in their home state, according to a report published by ProPublica on Tuesday.

The report states that Graham met with two executives and a lobbyist from Navatek in March 2020 and agreed to give a $10 million government contract to Navatek in South Carolina, Navatek CEO Martin Kao told the FBI. Graham allegedly asked that, in exchange, Kao pledge $100,000 to his reelection campaign.

The contractor also made similar alleged deals with Clyburn and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, after approaching their offices in early 2019, the outlet reported.

The FBI in early 2025 launched its investigation into alleged bribery in Congress, with Graham’s meeting with the Navatek executives and lobbyist at the heart of it. Agents interviewed Kao, who admitted his “business model consisted of bribing public officials in exchange for government contracts” and that Navatek’s research for the federal government “was often worthless,” ProPublica wrote.

Navatek was founded in 1979 and maintained close ties with former Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) but was “in need of a new patron in Washington” after his death in 2012, ProPublica wrote.

Kao planned to expand the defense contractor’s presence across the country to build new relationships with lawmakers via a plan he called “the method,” according to ProPublica. This led to opening offices in the states or districts of powerful lawmakers and partnering with local universities to develop proposals to receive federal research funding.

Navatek recruited the University of South Carolina for a joint research project and asked the lawmakers to provide $9.5 million for their work, with the aim of asking Congress to refresh the funding for two more years and approve two more projects for a total of $90 million, the outlet reported.

A final spending bill with the $9.5 million for Navatek’s project passed in December 2019. A Graham spokesperson told ProPublica that his office added the $9.5 million to the budget at the request of Navatek and the university, saying the research was supported by the Navy, but the spokesperson rejected the notion that Graham was motivated to fund Navatek’s research to acquire campaign funding.

Kao told the FBI that the scheme involved some of the most powerful members of Congress from both parties, with ProPublica noting that his admissions would “constitute a vast criminal bribery scheme if they could be proved in court.”

He spoke with the FBI in hopes of reducing his 2025 prison sentence, having pleaded guilty in 2022 to making illegal campaign donations and a loan fraud scheme.

Kao was sentenced to 87 months in prison.

FBI documents reviewed by the outlet showed that the admission lined up with records seized from Navatek, which named former Navatek executives Duke Hartman and Joshua Knight as subjects in the investigation. Hartman and Knight were never charged and later co-founded the naval research company called Integer Technologies.

“[It’s] corruption at its best,” Kao told ProPublica in his last statement to the outlet from federal detention in South Dakota. “But I am the only one rotting in prison.”

Graham, Clyburn and Wilson were not subjects in the investigation, though the FBI investigated their interactions with Kao, and agents said the lawmakers could be subjects in the future, according to records seen by ProPublica.

President Trump’s return to the White House led to the disbandment of many FBI and Justice Department teams that investigated public corruption, including the two agents investigating the bribery scheme. The case is effectively dead with none of its investigators left at the agency.

The Hill has reached out to the FBI for comment.

Graham’s former communications director, Taylor Reidy, who holds the same role under his sister Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.), told ProPublica that the allegations of “quid-pro-quo behavior or wrongdoing … are simply false” and called Kao’s remarks the “ravings of a convicted felon.” She said the FBI never contacted the late senator’s office.

“Whatever a donor may think or say, a donation would never cause Congressman Clyburn to increase his support for the donor’s request,” Jami LaRue, Clyburn’s communications director, told the outlet.

“The Congressman has always striven to assist the University of South Carolina and all of the colleges and universities in his district when called upon to further their important missions,” LaRue added. “The crimes and lies of an imprisoned fraudster will not cause the Congressman to waver in his support for these fine institutions.”

Wilson’s communications director David Snider said the House member “has always abided by campaign donation regulations set forth by the Federal Election Commission.”