John Huang (, born 1945) is a major figure in the

1996 United States campaign finance controversy The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, sometimes referred to as Chinagate, was an effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics prior to and during the Clinton administration and also involve ...

. He worked for

Lippo Bank PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk is Indonesia's sixth largest bank by assets, established in 1955. CIMB Niaga, which is majority-owned by CIMB, CIMB Group, is the largest payment bank in terms of transaction value under the Indonesian Central Securities ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and Worthen Bank in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, and as deputy assistant secretary for international economic affairs in U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Commerce Department The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econo ...

before he became a chief fundraiser for the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

in 1996.

Early life and education

Huang was born in 1945 at

Nanping Nanping; historically known as Yanping ( zh, s=延平, poj=Iân-pêng is a third-tier prefecture-level city in northwestern Fujian province of China, Province, China, People's Republic of China. It borders Ningde to the east, Sanming to the sou ...

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

. His father Huang Tizhai was a native of

Wenzhou Wenzhou; Chinese postal romanization, historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in China's Zhejiang province. Wenzhou is located at the extreme southeast of Zhejiang, bordering Lishui, Zhejiang, Lishui to the west, Taizhou, Zheji ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

and served the KMT. Huang and his father fled to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

at the end of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

before he eventually emigrated to the United States in 1969 to study for an

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Career

After working as a loan officer at small banks around

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, Huang moved to

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

before becoming Vice President of Worthen Bank in Little Rock in 1984. He continued to work for Lippo at the same time.

Criminal conviction

On August 12, 1999, Huang pleaded guilty to a felony

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

charge for violating campaign finance laws and was sentenced to one year of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. He was also ordered by

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

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 Lippo Group is an Indonesian multinational conglomerate company. The company operates internationally providing property development and management services. It was founded by Mochtar Riady. Lippo has a collective presence across Asia and No ...

employees to the Democratic Party.

References

American male criminals Living people Chinese Civil War refugees People from Nanping American people of Chinese descent Taiwanese emigrants to the United States Taiwanese people from Fujian University of Connecticut alumni 1945 births {{US-poli-bio-stub