88 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
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aliases:
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- James Tjahaja Riady
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category: "Business & Finance"
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tags:
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- Person
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- JamesRiady
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- LippoGroup
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- WorthenBank
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- JacksonStephens
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- CampaignFinance
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- BillClinton
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summary: "Indonesian banker, son of Lippo Group founder Mochtar Riady, who interned at Stephens Inc., ran Worthen Bank's international division in Little Rock, and in 2001 paid the largest campaign finance fine in American history."
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location: "Jakarta, Indonesia"
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created: 2026-09-21
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updated: 2026-10-15
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relations:
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Stephens Inc.]]"
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role: "intern"
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fn: 1
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- type: prosecuted
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with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
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reverse: true
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start: 2001-01-11
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fn: 4
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Corruption Eradication Commission]]"
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reverse: true
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start: 2018
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role: "Meikarta permit bribery case; house search October 18, 2018; questioned as witness October 30, 2018"
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fn: 11
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs]]"
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reverse: true
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start: 1997
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role: "1996 federal campaign finance investigation; Chinese intelligence finding"
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fn: 9
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---
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James Tjahaja Riady is an [[Indonesia|Indonesian]] banker and the son of [[Mochtar Riady]], founder of the [[Lippo Group]]. His father met [[Jackson Stephens]] and [[Witt Stephens]] in 1976 while looking for a stake in an American bank, and the two families formed [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in [[Hong Kong]] in 1978. James Riady served an internship at [[Stephens Inc.]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]].[^1]
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### Little Rock
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The Stephens and Riady families both invested in the [[Worthen Bank|Worthen Banking Corporation]] in 1983, and James Riady moved to Little Rock to run its international division, with [[John Huang]] as his [[Far East]] manager from February 1985. That April the [[New Jersey]] securities dealer [[Bevill, Bresler and Schulman]] failed while holding 52 million dollars of [[Arkansas]] state funds that Worthen had placed with it. About 1987 the Riadys traded their Worthen shares for the Stephens interest in the [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]]. Riady was chief executive of [[LippoBank]] in [[Los Angeles]] from 1986 to 1988. A memorandum in the family's files credited a five-minute car ride with Governor [[Bill Clinton]] as the start of its political giving to him. Through the end of 1991 the Lippo Group was expected to take over the Hong Kong subsidiary of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]], paying depositors as much as forty cents on the dollar. The plan ended in February 1992 when investigators found 145 million dollars in unrecorded claims against the bank.[^1][^2]
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### Hubbell
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On June 23, 1994, Riady had breakfast at the [[Hay-Adams Hotel]] with [[Webster Hubbell]], who had resigned from the [[Department of Justice]] in April, met President Clinton at ten with Huang and [[Mark Grobmyer]], and had lunch with Hubbell. On June 27 Hubbell wrote to a director of [[Hong Kong China Limited]], a Lippo company, offering his services for 100,000 dollars a year. The Independent Counsel's report records that Hong Kong China Limited wired 99,985 dollars into Hubbell's account on June 27, 1994.[^3] The House committee described the payment as "a lump sum of $100,000 for unknown services performed between June 27, 1994 and December 6, 1994."[^1] "Both Riady and Hubbell refuse to describe what services, if any, Hubbell performed," a House committee reported. Lippo also paid for a trip to [[Jakarta]] and [[Bali]] for Hubbell and his wife. An associate of Riady told a reporter: "Mr. Hubbell was our very close friend, when he left, we felt we should help him out. We didn't like to see him without a source of income." Hubbell wrote in his memoir: "it wasn't hush money." The former managing partner of the [[Rose Law Firm]], [[C. Joseph Giroir]], incorporated the [[Arkansas International Development Corporation]] with Lippo capital in April 1993 and gave close to 200,000 dollars in 1996 in connection with fundraisers organized by Huang.[^1]
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### Plea
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On January 11, 2001, Riady agreed to plead guilty in the federal court in Los Angeles to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the [[United States]] by reimbursing campaign donors with foreign corporate funds, and to pay 8.61 million dollars, which the Justice Department called the largest fine in the history of campaign finance law. LippoBank pleaded guilty to 86 misdemeanor counts covering 1988 to 1994. Indonesia has no extradition treaty with the United States, and Riady surrendered voluntarily after about six sessions with prosecutors. He agreed to 400 hours of community service and to stay out of the country for two years. The benefits the charge said he sought included "[[Community Reinvestment Act]] exemptions for LippoBank," "a repeal of the [[Glass-Steagall Act]]," and "Most Favored Nation status for [[China]]."[^4] The information described the reimbursement method for the August to October 1992 contributions. Contributions made by Huang in that period, shortly after Riady pledged $1 million in support of Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's campaign for the Presidency, were reimbursed with wire transfers from a foreign Lippo Group entity into an account Riady maintained at LippoBank, and the money was then distributed to Huang in cash.[^4] The plea agreement recorded about a half dozen proffer sessions with prosecutors since August 2000, and barred Riady from making, reimbursing, or directing any future campaign contributions in U.S. elections.[^4]
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### Leaving Worthen
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The [[House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]], drawing on the depositions of [[Vernon Weaver|Arthur Vernon Weaver]] and C. Joseph Giroir, gave the reason for the family's departure from Worthen: "The Riadys were bought out of Worthen by the Stephens family after the bank experienced a major defalcation by Bevil Bressler in 1986. After the defalcation, regulators investigated the quality of Worthen's assets and determined there were problems. Allegations were made against Worthen's loan practices and asset quality. Eventually, the Riadys traded their interest in the Worthen Bank for the Stephens' interest in the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, and also traded their interests in other joint ventures." Riady and Huang then "focused their attention on a bank they previously had purchased in San Francisco, California. Soon thereafter they established the Bank of Trade in Los Angeles, which later became LippoBank."[^5] Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation records show that the Bank of Trade, chartered in [[San Francisco]] in 1961, moved its main office to Los Angeles on October 31, 1989 and took the name Lippo Bank on January 18, 1990.[^6]
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### Contributions and White House access
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In the 1992 cycle, the Senate committee identified 465,000 dollars in contributions from James and Aileen Riady to the Democratic National Committee and Democratic state party organizations. The committee wrote that Riady had moved back to Indonesia in 1990 and had not been a resident of the United States since that time, and that the legality of the contributions "remains in doubt" because he declined the committee's invitation to explore them when its staff were in Indonesia.[^7] The Senate committee also recorded that LippoBank was owned 99 percent by Riady.[^7]
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The House committee counted at least 20 visits by Riady to the White House compound between April 1993 and September 1996, based on White House entry records. It noted that his name appeared on 25 scheduled admissions, and that he entered without a record on two occasions, June 25 and September 10, 1994.[^8]
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### Chinese intelligence
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The Senate committee's majority wrote that it had learned from recently acquired information that "James and Mochtar Riady have had a long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency." The report described that relationship as based on mutual benefit, with the Riadys receiving help in finding business opportunities in exchange for large sums of money.[^9]
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The minority views, in the response by Ranking Minority Member [[John Glenn]], stated that the non-public information received by the committee "supports the conclusion that the Riady's business dealings may have involved a relationship with a Chinese intelligence entity," but "does not support the implication that the Riadys were involved in foreign spy or other similar intelligence activity."[^10]
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### Meikarta
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On October 18, 2018, the Corruption Eradication Commission of Indonesia (KPK) searched Riady's house as part of its investigation into the Meikarta permit bribery case. The KPK had already named the Bekasi regent and a Lippo Group operational director as suspects. The KPK then summoned Riady as a witness, and on October 30, 2018 he was questioned for about nine hours at the KPK office in Jakarta. He said that he personally did not know anything about the alleged bribery and was not involved in the case.[^11][^12]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: 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 ; Hubbell, Webster. *Friends in High Places*. William Morrow, 1997.
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[^2]: Truell, Peter, and Larry Gurwin. *False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, the World's Most Corrupt Financial Empire*. Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
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[^3]: Independent Counsel, *Final Report of the Independent Counsel In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association,* vol. 3, part C, "Webster L. Hubbell's Billing Practices and Tax Filings," the passage on the June 27, 1994 letter and wire. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-2.pdf
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[^4]: 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.
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[^5]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, 1998, vol. 2, footnotes 14-15. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
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[^6]: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, BankFind Suite, institution history for certificate 18453 (Lippo Bank), queried September 23, 2026. https://api.fdic.gov/banks/history?filters=CERT:18453&limit=50
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[^7]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, chapter "John Huang's Years at Lippo," sections "Lippo Group," "LippoBank California," and "Lippo and Riady Political Contributions," footnote 37. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/1-13.htm
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[^8]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, H. Rept. 105-829, vol. 2, 1998, Part A, section IV.A, footnotes 106 and 107. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
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[^9]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, chapter "The China Connection," section "James and Mochtar Riady." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/2-18.htm
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[^10]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, "Response to Majority Report," Part 9, by Ranking Minority Member John Glenn. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/6-9.htm
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[^11]: Jakarta Post, "KPK to question James Riady over Meikarta case," October 19, 2018. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/19/kpk-to-question-james-riady-over-meikarta-case
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[^12]: Jakarta Post, "James denies involvement in Meikarta case," October 31, 2018. https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/31/james-denies-involvement-meikarta-case
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