Ted Sioeng

In Yunnan, this approach gained him a license to sell the popular Hongtashan brand of cigarettes – called 'Red Pagoda Mountain' in the U.S. – outside of China.

Sioeng was a major figure in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, notably sitting next to Bill Clinton and Al Gore at fundraising events after having donated to the Democratic Party funds allegedly linked to China.

[4] According to an unclassified final draft of a report by the US Senate committee then investigating campaign finance abuses, half of the $400,000 given to the Democrats by Sioeng and his family was "funded by transfer from overseas accounts," suggesting that the money came from the Chinese government.

[3] After being an Interpol fugitive since April 2023 for bad credit case against Mayapada with the amount of 1.550 trillion IDR ($95.3 million), Sioeng was arrested in China who was in hiding under the alias of Gatot S with Belizean passport.

He is married with five children, including his eldest, daughter Jessica Elnitiarta, who heads the family interests in California and was also involved in the Clinton controversy, having donated $300,000, some of which was alleged to have been Chinese government money.