---
aliases:
- Li Mo Tie
category: Business & Finance
created: 2026-09-22
location: Jakarta, Indonesia
relations:
- fn: 1
  role: founder and patriarch
  type: head_of
  with: '[[Lippo Group]]'
- fn: 1
  role: Stephens Finance Ltd. (1978); Worthen Bank
  start: 1976
  type: partner_of
  with: '[[Jackson Stephens]]'
- fn: 1
  role: father
  type: relative_of
  with: '[[James Riady]]'
- fn: 4
  start: 1998
  type: subject_of
  with: '[[Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs]]'
summary: Indonesian founder of the Lippo Group, partner of the Stephens family of
  Little Rock from 1976, whom a 1998 Senate report said, with his son James, had a
  long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency.
tags:
- Person
- Indonesia
- LippoGroup
- Arkansas
- ClintonFundraising
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Mochtar Riady is an Indonesian of Chinese descent who built the [Lippo Group](/organizations/lippo-group/); according to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, citing *Forbes,* he found it necessary to "Indonesianize" his name, which had been Li Mo Tie. He first met [Jackson Stephens](/people/jackson-stephens/) and [Witt Stephens](/people/witt-stephens/) of [Little Rock](/places/little-rock-arkansas/) in 1976, when he was looking into buying [Bert Lance](/people/bert-lance/)'s share of the [National Bank of Georgia](/organizations/national-bank-of-georgia/); that purchase fell through, and in 1978 the two families formed Stephens Finance Ltd. in [Hong Kong](/places/hong-kong/).[^1] The Riady and Stephens families later controlled [Worthen Bank](/organizations/worthen-bank/) in Little Rock together.[^1][^2]

### Clinton

The Riadys gave more than 450,000 dollars to the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties in the 1992 election cycle.[^3] Shortly after [Bill Clinton](/people/bill-clinton/) took office, Mochtar Riady wrote to him advocating, among other things, most-favored-nation trade status for China, and thanked him "for the personal time he spent with the Riady family on Inauguration day 1993." He and [John Huang](/people/john-huang/) asked Commerce Secretary Ron Brown to meet Shen Jueren, chairman of China Resources.[^1] In June 1994 Hong Kong China Limited, a Lippo company, engaged the former associate attorney general [Webster Hubbell](/people/webster-hubbell/) as a consultant "for a fee of $100,000.00 per year," and in September 1994, after meetings in a Hong Kong office building bearing the Lippo name, Hubbell traveled to Jakarta, where he "met Mochtar Riady, head of the Riady family business, and the [United States](/places/united-states/) Ambassador to Indonesia." James Riady introduced Hubbell there as a close friend of the president and told him to get Clinton to play golf in Bali during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.[^3]

In 1998 the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, in its report on the 1996 campaign-finance investigation, stated: "James and Mochtar Riady have had a long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency." It also noted that they had known Clinton since the mid-1980s, when they held a controlling interest in Worthen Bank.[^4] His son [James Riady](/people/james-riady/) pleaded guilty in January 2001 to violating federal election law.[^5]

[^1]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, vol. 2, 1998. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
[^2]: Rankin, Robert A. "Cash Scandal May Haunt President." Knight-Ridder, *The Spokesman-Review,* October 30, 1996.
[^3]: Office of the Independent Counsel. *Final Report of the Independent Counsel In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association,* vol. 3, part C, on Webster Hubbell. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-2.pdf
[^4]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. *Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Connection with 1996 Federal Election Campaigns,* S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, "The China Connection." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/2-18.htm
[^5]: U.S. 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.