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10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John Huang.md

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+---
+category: "Other"
+tags:
+  - Person
+  - JohnHuang
+  - LippoGroup
+  - WorthenBank
+  - CommerceDepartment
+  - CampaignFinance
+  - DemocraticNationalCommittee
+  - CIA
+summary: "Lippo Group banker who worked under James Riady at Worthen Bank in Little Rock, received CIA briefings at the Commerce Department in 1994 and 1995, raised money for the Democratic National Committee, and pleaded guilty in 1999."
+location: "Los Angeles, California"
+created: 2026-09-21
+updated: 2026-09-21
+---
+
+John Huang was the chief representative in the [[United States]] of the [[Lippo Group]] of [[Indonesia]], an official of the [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]] in 1994 and 1995, and a fundraiser for the [[Democratic National Committee]] in 1996. He was born in [[Fujian]] province in [[China]], raised in [[Taiwan]], and naturalized as an American citizen in 1976.[^1]
+
+### Banking
+
+Huang worked for the [[First National Bank of Louisville]] from 1979 and for [[Union Planters National Bank]] of [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] from 1981, which sent him to its [[Hong Kong]] office in 1983. There he met [[James Riady]]. From February 1985 he was at once vice president and director of international banking at the [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]] and vice president and [[Far East]] manager of [[Worthen Bank]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], which the [[Riady family]] then controlled jointly with the family of [[Jackson Stephens]]. He reported to Riady in both posts. In 1986 Riady made him president of the [[Bank of Trade (Los Angeles)|Bank of Trade]] in [[California]], renamed [[LippoBank]]. A colleague, [[Maeley Tom]], described him as "the political power that advises the Riady family." The Riady company [[Hip Hing Holdings]] paid him more than 750,000 dollars for 1993 and 1994.[^1][^2]
+
+### Contributions, 1992
+
+A Senate committee found that in 1992 and 1993 Huang sent money of foreign origin to the Democratic National Committee through three Riady companies. Hip Hing Holdings gave 50,000 dollars to the committee's [[DNC Victory Fund|Victory Fund]] on August 12, 1992, and was repaid from [[Jakarta]]. [[San Jose Holdings]] and [[Toy Center Holdings]] gave 15,000 dollars each. The government's later charges against Riady describe money wired to his account at LippoBank and handed to Huang in cash "shortly after Riady pledged $1 million in support of [[Arkansas]] Governor [[Bill Clinton]]'s campaign for the Presidency," between August and October 1992, and a "fictitious 'bonus'" paid to Huang by a foreign Lippo company between January 1993 and February 1994.[^1][^3]
+
+### The Commerce Department
+
+On June 23, 1994, Riady, Huang, and the Little Rock lawyer [[Mark Grobmyer]] met President Clinton at ten in the morning. Riady had breakfast before the meeting and lunch after it with [[Webster Hubbell]], who had resigned as associate attorney general in April, and 100,000 dollars from the Lippo company [[Hong Kong China Limited]] reached Hubbell's account by June 27. A House committee wrote: "The hiring occurred around the same time as John Huang finally was approved for a position at the Department of Commerce." Riady and Huang refused to cooperate with the committee, and Hubbell invoked the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]].[^2]
+
+The Senate committee found that Huang was given a top secret clearance without a full background investigation abroad. The department's acting security director testified that "there was a rock that was not turned over." Huang's briefer from the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], [[John Dickerson (CIA)|John Dickerson]], said in a deposition that he gave him more than thirty briefings, about one every ten days, on the economies and politics of Asia, and estimated that Huang saw between 370 and 550 raw intelligence reports. The committee's chairman, Senator [[Fred Thompson]], put the number of classified briefings on China at 37. Huang made more than 400 telephone calls to Lippo offices while at the department, 261 of them from his own desk, and 21 to [[Mark Middleton]], a former [[White House]] aide then working for Lippo. He used a spare office at the Washington branch of [[Stephens Inc.]], headed by [[Vernon Weaver]]. His superior, [[Jeffrey Garten]], had kept him away from China policy. Thompson told Garten that Huang "visited the [[Embassy of China, Washington, D.C.|Chinese Embassy]] at least six times and received a number of calls from Chinese Embassy officials." The [[Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office]] issued Huang a further top secret clearance as a consultant in December 1995, and it was not revoked until December 1996.[^1]
+
+### Plea
+
+On August 12, 1999, Huang pleaded guilty in the federal court in [[Los Angeles]] to a felony charge that he conspired with other Lippo employees "to make campaign contributions and reimburse employees with corporate funds or with funds from Indonesia." He was sentenced to a year's probation, 500 hours of community service, and a fine of 10,000 dollars, and was directed to go on cooperating. LippoBank pleaded guilty in 2001 to 86 misdemeanor counts for contributions its agents Riady and Huang had made from 1988 to 1994.[^3]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, *Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Connection with 1996 Federal Election Campaigns,* S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, sections "John Huang's Years at Lippo" and "John Huang."
+[^2]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, 1998, vol. 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
+[^3]: Department of Justice, "James Riady Pleads Guilty, Will Pay Largest Fine in Campaign Finance History for Violating Federal Election Law," press release 01-17, January 11, 2001.