Donor Hsu projected wealth, likability

LATimes ^ | September 16, 2007 | Claudia Blume and Mike Saccone and Janet Lundblad

[CutePuppy]

Associates describe the disgraced Democratic fundraiser as charming and self-effacing, but deceptive.

Last year, to celebrate New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's reelection victory, Norman Hsu capped an amazingly successful year as a Democratic fundraiser by treating members of her campaign staff to several days at the glitzy Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas, complete with free show tickets and dinners at posh restaurants.

.....

For all who did business with Hsu, the pattern is remarkably consistent: an initial attraction to a likable individual who offered the moon, followed by disillusionment and feelings of betrayal -- sometimes tinged with embarrassment at having been gullible.

Many questions remain about Hsu's often murky career. How could he rise to such heights, given that he had been a fugitive on a felony grand-theft charge since 1992? Why did no one ever dig into the background of a benefactor who seemed to emerge from nowhere? Exactly where did the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he showered on politicians come from?

And how was Hsu able to continue organizing multimillion-dollar financial schemes despite a trail of business failures and disappointed, often accusatory, investors? After all, he had no obvious source of income and had gone bankrupt twice.

.....

Even as he was ingratiating himself, Hsu used his ready access to the world of celebrity politics to enhance his credibility with potential business investors. And some investors said he or his associates pressured them to make campaign contributions, further cementing Hsu's standing in the political world.

Several investors admitted they were agog when Hsu took them to fundraising parties with the likes of Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg.

.....

[CutePuppy]

Finally, these are good questions to be asked? Why would "investors" into his schemes, who didn't make their money by being stupid, just hand him or "loaned" him a lot of money to get unrealistically high rate of return? As if they don't know what a "Ponzi scheme" is? Doesn't make sense. Then, one of them - Rosenman - puts up a $2 million bail after being scammed of $40 million dollars ("check bounced")?

It seems that everyone - Hillary and other Democrat pols, media and his "investors" - have a reason to make Norman Hsu a "scapegoat" in illegal campaign funding scheme. The money trail should go higher, and not just stop with Hsu...

[CutePuppy]

An emigre from Hong Kong, he was apparently alone in the world after his parents died, yet he showed enough pluck to graduate from Berkeley in 1973 and earn an MBA from the Wharton business school eight years later.

.....

A similar scheme involving a nonexistent contract to sell latex gloves left another set of investors empty-handed, leading to fraud charges against Hsu in 1991. He pleaded no contest to felony grand theft and agreed to accept up to three years in prison. But instead of appearing for a 1992 sentencing hearing, Hsu disappeared, apparently returning to his native Hong Kong.

Sometime later in the 1990s, he returned to the United States and went back to hatching investment deals. In 2003, he also began delivering thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Democrats.

.....

According to Hautzinger, the caller identified himself as an Orange County resident with a story to tell about Hsu. The caller claimed to be a victim of a scheme that involved at least $33 million and a pool of as many as 50 investors.

Orange County apparently was just one of Hsu's focal points. By 2003, records and interviews show, he was drawing investors into new ventures from coast to coast.

A New York investment fund has told authorities that it put $40 million into a Hsu venture on the promise of a 40% return.

In Orange County, the Bay Area, Florida, New York's Long Island and elsewhere, scores of other people put millions of dollars into investment pools they were told would finance "bridge" loans to companies needing short-term infusions of cash. Some said Hsu told them their money went to Chinese apparel makers.

------------------------------------
Sorry, this doesn't pass the smell test! Can't they find one person on this planet who refused to put millions of dollars on Hsu's offer of outsized financial returns?

[freekitty]

I would think people with a million dollars to invest would at least have checked this guy a little more. I am sure Clinton did but she doesn’t care where the money comes from as long as it’s Asian sounding and that sob story about her poor associate. If she is so smart why didn’t she realize this sooner?

[FlingWingFlyer]

...to graduate from Berkeley in 1973...

There's the problem right there. During that time period, the only thing they were doing at Berkeley was assisting the Communists to defeat the American military in Southeast Asia.

[rod1]

Cover pieces for Hillary titled...everybody did it (got taken in by HSU).

The problem is.. the Clintons are not that stupid nor the “taken”; they are the takers. HSU was the designated bag man.

[rod1]

Oh so HSU is that Nigerian Price I keep getting emails from as well. Bridge to the 21 Century loans.

[kitkat]

***It seems that everyone - Hillary and other Democrat pols, media and his “investors” - have a reason to make Norman Hsu a “scapegoat” in illegal campaign funding scheme. The money trail should go higher, and not just stop with Hsu...***

It takes two kinds of people to get involved in dishonest business plans, gullible, stupid people, AND those looking for a way to give illegal contributions to the likes of Hillary. Yes, I agree, the money trail should go higher.

[kittymyrib]

This woman claims to be clueless enough to be totally surprised by her husband’s string of adulteries, “can’t recall” anything when testifying to a grand jury, takes enormous campaign checks from felons without checking who they are, and lies every time her lips move...yep, sounds like we should trust her to be President of the United States as we fight a war against Islamists who have sworn to kill us.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Either Hsu is backed by shadowy (or perhaps painfully obvious) interests in Asia, or he got his money the old-fashioned way, by grifting it.

And if he grifted that much money, and it was that easy to do, what did they so badly want to believe that his marks fell for the con he was selling? What was his con? A simple Ponzi scheme? Do millionaires actually drop $40 mil on Ponzi schemes and not even drop a dime on a grifter who is wanted in California? And even make $2 million bail for the guy?

Then, one of them - Rosenman - puts up a $2 million bail after being scammed of $40 million dollars ("check bounced")?

IMHO this Rosenman dude needs serious scrutiny for campaign law violations. I'm no fan of that law - but the people breaking it are the ones who promoted it in the first place. That law is nothing more than a con to hamstring the honest while the grifters who promoted it evade it. Or, in the case of the grifters known as the MSM, they got themselves an exemption from it which doesn't apply to the little people.

[Liz]

FReeper Calpernia suggests the numerous stories of data theft WRT Vets and the Military (and others) could be mixed up with sleazy campaign bundling schemes.

I'm suggesting Hsu's operation might work like this: Hsu sets up dummy investment vehicles........the investment companies phony up the books with long lists of "investors" (filched from data theft).

The investment vehicles are actually money laundries making illegal currency conversions.

People like Rosenman and others mixed up with Hsu (who stash money offshore to evade the SEC and the IRS), then make "profitable investments" that are then laundered into Clinton's campaign.

Data thefts figure in this; campaigns might use stolen names to fill out FEC reports (to hide real sources of funds).

I would imagine people like Soros and Mark Rich with far-flung global empires also play this game.

[johnny7]

Sorry, this doesn't pass the smell test!

It's absurd... it has Clinton-Damage-Control written all over it. Who are the names of these 'duped investors' and what are the specifics on the 'schemes'?

[rodguy911]

I was doing a little surfing on the web last night and one of the rumors going around is that Hsu may have direct ties to the Chicoms.
Rumors are that he may take orders for goods from US business interests at remarkably high profits which are then filled by Chicoms masquerading as businessmen who then gleefully take huge losses in the millions for the privilege of feeding democrat campaign coffers whomever they be.
The payoff to the Chicoms is not clear yet(but Bubbas steering of nuke secrets and the rest are clearly indicated) but many seem to be working on this, so its not over.

[Eroteme]

The sheer scope of this is beyond the capacity of one person.

There are only 24 hours in a day. It is inconceivable that this lone ranger conman—all by his little star-struck self—conceived, orchestrated, managed, and kept track of this financial hydra that involved many hundreds of people, dozens of bank accounts, multiple residences and offices, dummying up professional-looking, convincing business plans and spread sheets that fooled all these savvy investors and their lawyers and accountants, cutting checks, shuffling funds, precisely timed wire transfers...

...all the while lunching with senatorial staffers, jetting coast to coast, hosting and staging grand galas from NY to Vegas to Hollywood, running back and forth between Rendell and Kerry and Hillary and foundations and charities and board mtgs, directing the contributions of a dizzying array of individual donors

Pfft.

Even if the man never slept or showered or went to the dentist or the dry cleaner, it would be an impossibility.

We’re not talking mere hired help here and social secretaries and gofer-type sidekicks like the young Winkle Paw either. I’m talking major infrastrucure.

This required a capable and sophisticated network of financially savvy someones. It is abundantly clear that Hsu did not just start gaming the intracies of high finance with a smooth pitch and breathtaking chutzpah. Reporters like Van Natta of the NYT who take great pains to portray this scam as a one-man show are either willfully complicit in the coverup or too stupid to dress themselves.

[Eroteme]

Data thefts figure in this; campaigns might use stolen names to fill out FEC reports (to hide real sources of funds).

I would imagine people like Soros and Mark Rich with far-flung global empires also play this game.

Like plain old voter-roll scams. Interesting. Coincidentally, this morning's news has a story about a massive hack of Ameritrade customer info that goes back to last year and is just now being reported.

[Calpernia]

Hsu has been tied to foreign monies since he was proved a bundler for Ted Sioeng.

http://blog.barofintegrity.us/categories/Norman%20Hsu.aspx
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, DNC, Campaign Money Trail, Norman Hsu and China

>>3/11/95 Sioeng San Wong Friends of Norman Hsu $ 7,500<<

[Calpernia]

Excellent put together of the Chinagate on this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1814236/posts
Chinagate: The Movie

[NittanyLion]

For all who did business with Hsu, the pattern is remarkably consistent: an initial attraction to a likable individual who offered the moon, followed by disillusionment and feelings of betrayal -- sometimes tinged with embarrassment at having been gullible.

If Hsu had been a Republican donor, does anyone think we'd be seeing references to gullibility? I'm glad the media is writing about this subject, but even now they see things in a biased manner. The poor trusting Democrats were duped, but given the same set of facts the GOP would be willfully using a corrupt crony to acquire illegal money.

[Eroteme]

Either Hsu is backed by shadowy (or perhaps painfully obvious) interests in Asia, or he got his money the old-fashioned way, by grifting it.

IMHO, it's both. Hsu's initial scams in the 90's, where he went afoul of the chinese syndicates, may have been the very vitae that brought him to the attention of his current handlers. I suspect that he started out as a petty con in CA. But during his time in HK after he fled to evade jail time, he was made an offer he couldn't refuse.

The current operation also entails, I believe, significant support and complicity from an established firm or firms here in the US as well.

[Calpernia]

Wow, I would never be able to think like that, ie., investment vehicles........the investment companies phony up the books with long lists of “investors”, et al.

That is way over my head.

Could you imagine how well off we would all be if that level of ingenuity was put into productiveness vs. fraud??!!

Thanks for that insight!

[Calpernia]

>>>Who are the names of these ‘duped investors’ and what are the specifics on the ‘schemes’?

Maybe all the other DNC people involved?

http://blog.barofintegrity.us/2007/09/01/norman-hsu-and-dnc-fundraisers.aspx
Norman Hsu And DNC Fundraisers

Campaign contributions

Since 2004, other than Hillary Clinton, Norman Hsu has contributed to or raised funds for the following:[6][9]

* Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.)
* Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)[10]
* Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
* Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)[10]
* Sen. Robert Casey (D-Penn.)[10]
* Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
* Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-Tenn.)[11]
* Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)[11][12]
* Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa)[11]
* Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) Donated $1,000 to charity.[13]
* Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)[10]
* Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.)[10]
* Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.)[10]
* Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)[11]
* Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)[11]
* Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.)[10][14]
* Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)[10]
* Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)[10]; HOPEFUND[10]
* Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.)[11]
* Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.)[11]
* Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)[11]
* Rep. Joseph Sestak (D-Penn.)[11] Donated $1,000 to chairty.[15]
* Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)[10][16]
* Sen. Mark E. Udall (D-Co.)[11]
* Former presidential candidate Tom Vilsack[11]
* Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.)
* Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D-Penn.)[17]
* Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.)[18]
* Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.)[19]
* Andrew Cuomo for Attorney General (D-N.Y.)[20]
* Thomas Allen (D-Me.) for Senate[11]
* Al Franken (D-Minn.) for Senate[11] Donated $2,600 to charity.[21]
* David Wayne Loebsack (D-Iowa) for Congress[11]
* Committee for a Democratic Majority[11]
* Democratic Campaign Committee of Philadelphia[22]
* Democratic Executive Committee of Florida[10]
* Democratic National Committee Services[10]
* Democratic Party of Wisconsin[10]
* Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee[11][10]
* New York State Committee of the Working Families Party[11]
* New York State Democratic Committee[23]
* New York State Democratic Party[24]
* Tennessee Democratic Party[11]
* EMILY’s List[10]
* Preschool for All[25]
* Pro-Issue 2 / Ohio Citizen Action / 2006[26]
* Searchlight Leadership Fund[11] (operated by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.))