Ex-Hawaii CEO, Martin Kao, pleads not guilty to loan fraud

A former Hawaii company CEO accused of defrauding banks of money meant to assist businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Martin Kao, who was CEO of Martin Defense Group LLC, formerly known as Navatek LLC, is charged with bank fraud and money laundering. Authorities say he defrauded banks of more than $12.8 million through the Paycheck Protection Program.

He stepped down as CEO in November, a spokeswoman said.

Congress authorized the program to provide emergency financial assistance through forgivable loans to small businesses for job retention and other expenses.

Kao transferred more than $2 million into his own personal accounts, according to an indictment. Investigators talked to an executive and a former employee who said the company wasn’t affected by the pandemic, court documents said.

Kao allegedly misrepresented the company’s average monthly payroll and number of employees when applying for federal loans.

Authorities describe his company as a “research, engineering, design, and innovations company that specializes in novel systems for the Department of Defense and other partners in academia and other scientific fields.”

Founded in 1979 as Navatek, the company has provided naval architecture and modeling and simulation services.

Court documents said Kao began working with the company in 2010. He assumed the role of chief executive officer in 2017 and had owned 99% of the company since March 2019.

Kao is also described as a prolific donor to federal campaigns. He allegedly “made and caused to be made” multiple contributions to federal campaigns using company funds, according to “factual allegations” made in an ongoing civil lawsuit between Navatek Capital Inc. and Kao.

The lawsuit asserts that Kao’s alleged fraudulent attempts to obtain federal loans caused “significant damages” to the company.

From 2019-2020, the alleged contributions to federal campaigns totaled about $184,000. About $77,000 were in his own name; $62,000 were in his wife’s name, Tiffany Lam; $27,000 were in the name of a former company controller, Lawrence Kahele Lum Kee; and $17,200 came from a former chief financial officer, Clifford Chen.

The company noted that because it is a federal contractor, it is prohibited from making contributions to federal campaigns.

Civil Beat found in 2020 that Kao and top executives from Navatek donated nearly $450,000 to federal candidates and causes between 2002 and 2019.

Kao, A U.S. citizen who was born in Taiwan, was allowed to be released from the Honolulu Federal Detention Center in October on $2 million bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nolan had filed a motion to detain Kao without bail because he was a flight risk.

Nolan said Kao had some legal status in Taiwan and multimillion-dollar homes in Tokyo and in San Francisco he failed to disclose to court officials.

During a brief arraignment via telephone Wednesday, defense attorney Michael Green entered the not guilty plea on behalf of Kao.

Kao said he understands the nature of the charges.

Trial is scheduled for July. Green said he anticipates the trial will be postponed because the case involves “thousands of pages of discovery.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.