Fund-Raiser Huang Aids Starr Case, Sources Say

John Huang, a prime focus of the federal inquiry into illegal campaign fund-raising, has told independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s investigators he is not aware former Associate Atty. Gen. Webster L. Hubbell did any work for a $100,000 payment from an Indonesian financier, legal sources said Tuesday.

Starr is examining whether President Clinton’s supporters arranged lucrative contracts for Hubbell to discourage his cooperation with the Whitewater investigation. Prosecutors have alleged that Hubbell “performed little or no work” for the money.

In return for his cooperation, Huang has received limited immunity in Starr’s investigation of Hubbell, a close friend of the president. Hubbell received about $500,000 from a dozen or more private deals, many obtained with the help of top associates of the president after Hubbell left the Justice Department in April 1994, sources said.

After resigning his No. 3 post at the Justice Department, Hubbell was convicted of defrauding his Little Rock, Ark., law firm and served 18 months in prison. A subsequent indictment of Hubbell on tax evasion charges was dismissed. Starr is appealing that decision.

One of the largest payments to Hubbell came from Indonesian billionaire James T. Riady, a longtime friend and political supporter of Clinton’s who hired Hubbell through a Hong Kong company for unspecified services.

This step was facilitated by Huang in mid-1994, according to individuals familiar with the matter. Huang arranged for the $100,000 to be wired to the besieged Hubbell’s bank account from one of the Riady family’s overseas business accounts, the sources said.

Huang, who had been the Riady family’s senior U.S. representative before Clinton appointed him to a trade position in the Commerce Department in July 1994, was hired by the Democratic National Committee as a fund-raiser at Clinton’s urging in December 1995. Huang raised more than $3.4 million for the Democrats, nearly half of which was later returned as illegal or suspect.

Huang, who resides in Glendale, Calif., told Starr’s prosecutors that, based on his conversations with Riady, he understood that the Hubbell payment was made to help a friend who was in trouble, a source familiar with the matter said.

Huang’s court-approved immunity in the Starr investigation is not believed to affect the Justice Department’s investigation of Democratic fund-raising abuses during the 1996 presidential campaign. Earlier this year, Charles G. LaBella, then-head of the department’s campaign finance task force, met with Starr to ensure that Huang’s immunity would be limited to his testimony in the Hubbell case, an individual close to the matter said.

Charles G. Bakaly III, Starr’s spokesman, declined comment, as did Ty Cobb, Huang’s attorney.

Lawyers for Riady and Hubbell could not be reached. Hubbell told the Senate Whitewater Committee in 1996 that he did work for the Riadys but refused to disclose what he did. “There wasn’t anything improper with it and nobody promised me a damned thing,” he said.

Hubbell’s relationship with the Riadys extends back to the 1980s, when the family had a stake in a Little Rock bank and Hubbell was a partner in the Rose Law Firm, which also employed First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.