If John Huang was the Lippo Group's front man in Washington, investigators say, Joe Giroir was its back-room brains. The Arkansas lawyer emerged from the sidelines of Donorgate last week when the Senate hearings put a spotlight on his frenetic lobbying to land a Democratic fundraising job for Huang, Lippo's favorite son in the U.S. But investigators tell TIME that Giroir played a more pivotal role for the Indonesian conglomerate in its quest for influence in Washington: after securing Lippo as a $3 million investor in his company, Giroir contributed a total of $175,000 to the Democrats.
Lippo's campaign for Washington...
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