HONOLULU (CN) — Martin Kao could not speak for himself.
That, in essence, was the argument his attorney made Tuesday before the Hawaii Supreme Court, as justices considered whether a civil arbitration proceeding should have been put on hold years ago while Kao faced federal criminal charges that would eventually send him to prison.
Kao, the former president and chief executive of a Honolulu defense contractor once known as Navatek and now called PacMar Technologies, is serving an 87-month federal sentence for Covid-relief wire fraud, money laundering and bank fraud. He received an additional 33 months in October 2025 for orchestrating more than $200,000 in illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ 2020 reelection campaign…