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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Stephens Finance Ltd..md

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+---
+category: "Private Organization"
+tags:
+  - Organization
+  - Lippo
+  - Stephens
+  - HongKong
+  - Banking
+alias:
+  - Stephens Finance
+summary: "Hong Kong finance company established in 1978 by the Riady family's Lippo Group and the Stephens brothers of Arkansas, where John Huang worked before joining Worthen Bank."
+start: 1978
+location: "Hong Kong"
+relations:
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[Mochtar Riady]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1978
+    fn: 1
+  - type: founded
+    with: "[[Jackson Stephens]]"
+    reverse: true
+    start: 1978
+    fn: 1
+  - type: employed_by
+    with: "[[John Huang]]"
+    reverse: true
+    role: "executive vice president"
+    fn: 1
+  - type: employed_by
+    with: "[[James Riady]]"
+    reverse: true
+    fn: 1
+created: 2026-09-23
+updated: 2026-09-23
+---
+
+Stephens Finance Ltd. was a [[Hong Kong]] finance company established in 1978 by [[Mochtar Riady]] of the [[Lippo Group]] and the Arkansas financiers Jackson and [[Witt Stephens]]. According to a 1998 report of the [[United States House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], Mochtar Riady had first met the Stephens brothers in 1976, when he was "looking into buying Bert Lance's share of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]"; that deal fell through, and the friendship produced Stephens Finance two years later and "several other joint projects before Lippo and Stephens acquired a substantial stake in Worthen Bank of Arkansas in 1983."[^1]
+
+[[John Huang]] was executive vice president at Stephens Finance under [[James Riady]] before moving to [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] as vice president for the Far East at the [[Worthen Bank]], and was later appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Economic Policy in the International Trade Administration of the [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]].[^1] The committee's account of these ventures rested chiefly on depositions of James Riady in *Stephens Group, Inc. v. [[United States]]* (1993), of the Little Rock lawyer [[C. Joseph Giroir]] (1997), and of Arthur Vernon Weaver (1997). The Riadys later traded their interest in Worthen for the Stephens family's interest in the [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]], and traded their interests in other joint ventures.[^1]
+
+The National Bank of Georgia that Riady had considered buying from [[Bert Lance]] was sold instead, at a closing in January 1978, to [[Ghaith R. Pharaon]]; the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] concluded in 1991, according to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], that Pharaon had borrowed at least part of the purchase money, "with [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] as his partner in the transaction from the beginning."[^2][^3]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law: Interim Report.* House Report 105-829, 105th Congress, 2nd Session, 1998, vol. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
+[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
+[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 16, "BCCI and Georgia Politicians." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/16ga.htm