Two Indonesian billionaires come to Arkansas. Mochtar Riady and Liem Sioe Liong are close to Indonesian President, General Suharto. Riady is looking for an American bank to buy. Riady’s agent is Jackson Stephens, who also brokers the arrival of BCCI to this country and steers BCCI’s founder, Hassan Abedi, to Bert Lance.
Apparently because of pressure from Indonesia, Riady withdraws his bid to buy Lance’s 30% share of the National Bank of Georgia. Instead, a BCCI front man buys the shares and Abedi moves to secretly take over First American Bankshares — later the subject of the only BCCI-connected scandal to be prosecuted in the US.
Riady’s teen-age son is taken on as an intern by Stephens Inc. He later says he was “sponsored” by Bill Clinton.
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