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Riady Admits Illegally Funding Clinton NewsMax.comIndonesian billionaire James Riady has agreed to pay a record $8.6 million criminal fine for illegally funding Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, the Justice Department said Thursday night. According to the Associated Press and other wire services:
In a plea bargain filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Riady agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of conspiracy for concealing foreign contributions, which are illegal in the U.S. He will not face jail time. The government's court filing said the goal of the contributions was to buy influence for Lippo Group and LippoBank. Riady is to surrender and come to the U.S. at an unspecified future date – even though there is no extradition treaty between Indonesia and the United States. Fox News reported he was expected to fly from Indonesia to Los Angeles for a court appearance Tuesday. An FBI summary released last year said Democrat fund-raiser John Huang, a Riady employee, reported that in 1992 Riady told Clinton during a limousine ride that he wanted to raise $1 million for his campaign. Huang pleaded guilty to a campaign financing felony and has been cooperating with the government since August 1999. Last April, Clinton told federal investigators he did not have "a specific recollection of what the conversation was, or this fact of the car ride.'' He said all he could remember was seeing Riady "sometime in '92 after I became the nominee,'' and that Riady promised to help his campaign. LippoBank California, a bank affiliated with Riady's Lippo Group, agreed to plead guilty to 86 misdemeanor accounts charging that its agents, Riady and Huang, made illegal foreign campaign contributions from 1988 through 1994. Riady also agreed to assist with the government's inquiry. Riady is one of 26 people and two corporations so far charged by Justice's campaign finance task force, established four years ago. The Ray Connection A Justice Department official said that independent counsel Robert Ray, who is investigating Clinton on other matters, was consulted and indicated that the plea bargain was consistent with the interests of his investigation, which does not include campaign financing. Ray's office has prosecuted former Justice official and Clinton friend Webster Hubbell, and has looked into whether payments to him, including $100,000 from Lippo Group after he resigned, were designed to keep him from testifying against Clinton or his wife, Hillary.
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