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The Lippo Group is a giant conglomerate based in Jakarta, Indonesia, with interests in banking, finance and other enterprises. Its flagship, Lippo Ltd., listed $3.6 billion in assets in 1995. The firm owns only one small bank in the United States but has extensive interests in Indonesia, Hong Kong and China. It was founded by Mochtar Riady, an ethnic Chinese born in Indonesia.

From The Post: • The Riadys' Persistent Pursuit of Influence, May 27, 1997

In 1984, the Lippo Group purchased the Bank of Trade in Los Angeles, now Lippo Bank. The conduct of Lippo Bank's former top U.S. executive, John Huang, is at the heart of the Senate investigation into fund-raising improprieties.

Mochtar's son, James Riady, organized a giving campaign of Lippo executives to the Democratic Party beginning in 1988. Federal Election Commission records indicate Riady, Lippo executives and business executives contributed more than $700,000 to the Democratic National Committee since 1991.

The Lippo Group also hired Webster Hubbell, the former associate attorney general, after he resigned from the Clinton administration and before he went to jail on mail and tax fraud charges dating to the time when he and Hillary Clinton were partners at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock. Hubbell was reportedly paid $100,000. Investigators want to know whether the payment was a favor to the White House intended to buy Hubbell's silence about a meeting with Riady – or about Whitewater allegations.

The Lippo Group had strong ties with the Chinese government and saw favorable treatment of China as being in its economic interests.

Last updated July 24, 1997