A major figure in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, John Huang (Chinese: 黄建南) worked for Lippo Bank in California, Worthen Bank in Arkansas, and as deputy assistant secretary for international economic affairs in U.S. President Bill Clinton's Commerce Department before he became a chief fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in 1996.[1][2][3] On August 12, 1999, John Huang pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge for violating campaign finance laws and was sentenced to one year of probation. He was also ordered by U.S. District Court to pay a $10,000 fine and serve 500 hours of community service. Prosecutors said Huang was responsible for arranging about $156,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Lippo Group employees to the Democratic Party.[4] Born in 1945 at Nanping in Fujian, his father Huang Tizhai, was a native from Wenzhou, Zhejiang and served the KMT. Huang and his father fled to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War before he eventually emigrated to the United States in 1969[1] to study for an M.B.A. at the University of Connecticut. After working as a loan officer at small banks around Washington D.C., Huang moved to Kentucky and Tennessee before becoming Vice President of Worthen Bank in Little Rock in 1984. He continued to work for Lippo at the same time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Huang The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy was an alleged effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics prior to and during the Clinton administration and also involved the fund-raising practices of the administration itself. While questions regarding the U.S. Democratic Party's fund-raising activities first arose over a Los Angeles Times article published on September 21, 1996,[1] China's alleged role in the affair first gained public attention when Bob Woodward and Brian Duffy of The Washington Post published a story stating that a United States Department of Justice investigation into the fund-raising activities had uncovered evidence that agents of China sought to direct contributions from foreign sources to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) before the 1996 presidential campaign. The journalists wrote that intelligence information had shown the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. was used for coordinating contributions to the DNC[2] in violation of United States law forbidding non-American citizens or non-permanent residents from giving monetary donations to United States politicians and political parties. A Republican investigator of the controversy stated the Chinese plan targeted both presidential and congressional United States elections, while Democratic Senators said the evidence showed the Chinese targeted only congressional elections. The Chinese government denied all accusations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_United_States_campaign_finance_controversy

• published: 07 Oct 2015
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