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Billionaire beyond extradition pleaded guilty
James Riady was a mysterious Indonesian billionaire who allegedly gave Bill Clinton a million dollars in cash in the back of a limousine. The two had befriended each other in Little Rock, Arkansas, before Clinton became governor, when he was an anonymous attorney general. Among the theories the FBI agents entertained at the time was that Clinton might have been a Manchurian candidate.
A young federal prosecutor, Mathew Rosengart, was appointed lead counsel on the case by Bob Conrad, who supervised the unit and later became a federal judge. Riady was essentially beyond the extradition power of the United States, yet the team got him to plead guilty to a felony.
The State Department held out the prospect that he could come back to the United States to visit friends and family, and the lead prosecutor believes that is what enticed him to plead. Whether the visit ever happened is unknown to him.
Why can some people never be extradited?
Extradition depends on treaties between countries, and each treaty sets out which crimes qualify and who may be handed over. Without a treaty with the United States, another country has no legal duty to surrender anyone, and any handover happens only by that country's choice. Many countries also refuse to extradite their own citizens. That leaves prosecutors with negotiation as the main tool against defendants abroad.
Why would a defendant abroad agree to plead guilty?
A plea agreement is a negotiated trade, so prosecutors can offer terms that matter to a defendant who is outside their reach. A conviction can limit where a person can travel, and a foreign national convicted of certain crimes can be found inadmissible under United States immigration law. That gives real value to an assurance about future entry into the country. Prosecutors and diplomats can coordinate on such assurances because visas fall under the State Department.
Why do campaign finance laws ban foreign money?
The ban on foreign contributions to American elections dates to 1966 amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act and now sits in the Federal Election Campaign Act. A related rule bars giving money in someone else's name, called a conduit contribution, because the law requires campaigns to report the true source of funds. Investigations after the 1996 election examined donations from several foreign-linked donors.
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