REDWOOD CITY, Calif. , Sept. 5, 2007
Disgraced Democrat Donor On The Run Again
New Arrest Warrant Issued For Norman Hsu After He Skips Bail Hearing
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Play CBS Video Video Fugitive Fundraiser Arrested
Norman Hsu, who has raised millions for Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, surrendered to California authorities. He faces charges of fraud dating back to the 1990s. Sandra Hughes reports.
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Booking photograph of Norman Hsu, from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. (San Mateo County Sheriffs Office)
Hsu, whose criminal past has roiled the campaigns of top presidential candidates, was scheduled to ask a judge to cut in half the $2 million bail he posted last week when he turned himself in after spending 15 years on the lam from a felony theft conviction.
Instead, San Mateo Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles ordered Hsu's bail forfeited to the county and issued a new arrest warrant. If Hsu is arrested again, he will be jailed without bail this time.
Hsu, a Hong Kong native, was also supposed to turn over his passport Wednesday. Hsu's prominent Silicon Valley criminal defense attorney Jim Brosnahan said Hsu failed to give the passport to the legal team on Monday.
"Mr. Hsu is not here and we do not know where Mr. Hsu is," Brosnahan said outside court. Brosnahan said that "there was some contact" with Hsu a few hours before the scheduled 9 a.m. court appearance, but he declined to say how and who talked to Hsu.
Hsu pleaded no contest in 1991 to a felony count of grand theft, admitting he'd defrauded investors of $1 million after falsely claiming to have contracts to purchase and sell Latex gloves. He was facing up to three years in prison when he skipped town before his 1992 sentencing date.
Prosecutors said they suspected Hsu fled the country then. But a few years ago, Hsu re-emerged in New York as an apparel executive and a wealthy benefactor of Democratic causes and candidates. They included presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose campaign designated Hsu a "HillRaiser" — a title given to top donors.
Brosnahan said he didn't know if Hsu returned to his Manhattan condominium or stayed in California after his five-hour jail stint Friday when Hsu turned himself in. He was released from jail after posting $2 million bail, which a judge refused then to reduce to $1 million.
Prosecutors with the California Attorney General's office had agreed to the bail reduction because it would be used to reimburse the victims Hsu admitted swindling out of $1 million in the early 1990s.
"We did think that was enough," Deputy Attorney General Ralph Sivilla said outside court. Sivilla also said he was troubled that Hsu didn't turn in his passport.
Federal Election Commission records show Hsu donated $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates since 2004. Though a top fundraiser for Clinton, he also donated to Obama's Senate campaign in 2004 and to his political action committee. He also contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to state and municipal candidates.
After reports surfaced of his fugitive status, politicians at all levels scrambled to distance themselves. On Wednesday, Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who initially said he would keep the $6,200 from Hsu, announced that he would give the money to charity.
Kennedy had originally counted $6,600 in donations, but a review of federal campaign records showed it was actually $6,200.
Obama's campaign said it would give to charity the $2,000 Hsu contributed to his 2004 Senate campaign and the $5,000 Hsu gave to his political action committee, Hopefund.
Hsu's $43,700 in donations to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $2,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also will go to charity, both groups said.
Clinton joined the other candidates, returning $23,000 in contributions that Hsu made to her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac. But his close association with her campaign put Clinton on the defensive.
Last week, Hsu said he thought the criminal charges had been taken care of when he completed his bankruptcy proceedings in the early 1990s.
"I have not sought to evade any of my obligations and certainly not the law," Hsu said in a prepared statement.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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See all 160 CommentsBeing as this person has contributed to major/minor Democratic campaigns for several years, I would say that they didn''t just find out about him, no they decided to look honorable only after it came to light that he had a 15 yr outstanding warrant for his arrest.
It''s a joke. I''ll even explain it. It''s called ''irony''. Every article that''s covered the many ''pub ethics failures has brought out sqwawks of ''liberal MSM'' from the hate-radio parrots. Then the more comical ones by moron ''cons on those articles recently have claimed this story isn''t being covered. But this has been covered here at CBS since the morning it ''came out''.
I will say that pretty much all of the neocon posters show a pattern of being humorless. And not too bright.
This story has practically nothing to do with Clinton. 20-year background checks isn''t realistic, and you KNOW your empty suit candidates aren''t doing any such checks.
Mitt Romney''''s national finance co-chairman, Alan B. Fabian, recently was indicted on 23 counts of money laundering, fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes
Posted by pepperp1 at 10:49 PM : Sep 05, 2007
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good for him..now can we focus on this guy??or are you hoping that if you cry about what somebody else did ..the world would forget what Hsu''s action and its involvement with the DNC?? or are you going to allow these types infiltrating your precious party??
Mitt Romney''s national finance co-chairman, Alan B. Fabian, recently was indicted on 23 counts of money laundering, fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes
Paula Jones was a huge deal for Clinton; but then again he was a democrat.
The corporate media complex likes its tax loopholes, freer control over the broadcast spectrum, and decreased regulation regarding too much control of media markets. Hence, it supports Rescumlicans. The mainstream corporate media is absolutely corrupt and completely worthless - unless you want to hear about Al Gore''s tendency to exaggerate or his artificial image.
By the way George Thompson (campaigns in red pickup but drives a Mercedes) and Giuliani (says he was at ground zero more than the recovery workers) both have much larger character/image problems than the ones the media made up about Al Gore. But, you won''t hear about them...
Wow! A person who actually has the intelligence to skip the holier-than-thou partison aspects and see the real issue in this story. You are definitely smarter than the average bear on this site, at least today.
What''s so incideous about the corrupt system is that anyone who is in Washington for any length of time iether becomes part of the system or is drawn and quartered and swift-boated out of office at the next election. Mr./Ms. Smith soon becomes Mr./Ms. special interest prostitute.
Antone who succeeds in retaining their integrity becomes a pariah and a backbencher with no influence.
The only way it will change is to make it a primary election issue in its own right. The establishment and the media powers that be don''t want that and will not cover it, that''s why Ross Perot had to purchase his own tv time to talk about it.
The only current candidates who''ve shown any interest in even talking about it seriously are McCain, Obama, and Edwards.
NOW REACT!
yeah right, Rupert Murdoch and his Fair and Balanced rag the WSJ just happened upon this mysterious man and supposed scandal, a guy who know one knows where his money comes from or how he was in the country and all of a sudden SHAZAM he just showed a couple of years ago to give thousands to many many Dem candidates.....do not belive it is tough to figure who might be funded this Donor Boater...
for those of you that do not recall the cooked up RNC China spy scandal these same scum tried to pull on Bill Clinton, just know it looks and smells like more of the same more of the same.... %u2026%u2026
I personally am waiting for the Ark scandals Griffin was sent to Ark as an unqualified USA after Rove had Gonzo fire the qualified USA, Griffin you recall just happened to be a RNC operative working in the largest county in Fla during the election of 2000 where many Blacks 24,000 just up and decided not to cast a vote for President while at the poll that day....... SHAZAM again magical crowd are
then Hillary''s not smart enough to be president
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then Hillary''s not smart enough to be president
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