Clinton to Return $850,000 Raised by Hsu
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By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
Clinton to Return $850,000 Raised by Hsu
WASHINGTON (AP) -
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign said Monday it will return $850,000 in donations raised by Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who is under federal investigation for allegedly violating election laws.
Clinton, D-N.Y., previously had planned only to give to charity $23,000 she received from Hsu for her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac.
The FBI is investigating whether Hsu paid so-called straw donors to send campaign contributions to Clinton and other candidates, a law enforcement official said Monday.
"In light of recent events and allegations that Mr. Norman Hsu engaged in an illegal investment scheme, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to return the money he raised for our campaign," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement Monday night. "An estimated 260 donors this week will receive refunds totaling approximately $850,000 from the campaign."
Wolfson said the Clinton campaign also will vigorously review its fundraisers, including thorough criminal background checks, in the future. "In any instances where a source of a bundler's income is in question, the campaign will take affirmative steps to verify its origin," he said.
The amount that the campaign identified as raised by Hsu would make him one of her top fundraisers. During the first six months of this year, her presidential campaign raised $52 million from individual contributors, second to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who raised $58.5 million.
Since 2004, Hsu has donated $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates, and raised hundreds of thousands of additional dollars. He was regarded as a top party fundraiser until recent reports surfaced that he was wanted on a warrant in California in connection with a 1991 grand theft charge.
Federal authorities are looking into whether Hsu leaned on investors to contribute to political candidates after paying them big earnings from a shady business venture he was running, the law enforcement official said. Such a scam - using conduit contributors known as straw donors - is a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which limits how much money individuals can give to candidates and political committees.
The FBI may be looking at other potential charges as well, according to the law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
In addition to the $260,000 he contributed to federal candidates, Hsu also contributed at least $330,000 to state Democratic candidates and state party committees and ballot initiatives during the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. Among the state officials who received money were New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Both have said they would divest their campaigns of the donations.
Additionally, last week Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he would donate nearly $40,000 in contributions, and Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said he had donated a $1,000 contribution to a charity that helps soldiers.
The purpose of Hsu's business venture was unclear. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that it was an investment pool that had recently drawn the suspicion of associates who questioned its legality.
An attorney for Hsu did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
Hsu remained hospitalized in Grand Junction, Colo., where he has been since last week after failing to show up for a California court hearing. It was unclear when he might be returned to California to face the felony theft case.
Hsu pleaded no contest in 1991 to a grand theft charge that accused him of defrauding investors of $1 million. He was facing up to three years in prison when he skipped town before his sentencing in 1992. He finally surrendered to the arrest warrant Aug. 31, but disappeared before last week's hearing where he was expected to turn over his passport and ask a judge to cut his $2 million bail in half.
Wolfson said the Clinton campaign was "unaware of Mr. Hsu's decade-plus old warrant," despite what he described as a thorough review of public records.
Since Thursday, Hsu has been at the Colorado hospital, when he was taken from an eastbound Amtrak train for treatment of an undisclosed ailment. He'd failed to show up for the hearing a day earlier. He is expected to be taken to the Mesa County Jail in Colorado to await extradition proceedings in state court once he is well enough to leave the hospital.
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Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
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Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
“”An estimated 260 donors this week will receive refunds totaling approximately $850,000 from the campaign.”
I’m speculating that more than a few will be surprised that they gave anything at all.
$850,000 is a drop in the bucket to Hillary, with the big bucks George Soros and Warren Buffet are donating to her.
Why cant we give the 850k to a war orphans fund and give Hillary back to the Chinese?
How bad does Obama really want to win? How bad do his fans really want him to win? Their reaction to this will be very telling.
I’ll believe this when I see the receipt showing Hsu got the money. I won’t be holding my breath.
Now that Hillary has acknowledged the felonious nature of Hsu donors, how about the other Democrats that got money from these 260 donors?
BTTT
Do you think her campaign will actually even notice that money missing?
The other question that I haven’t seen asked or answered is this: When she says she’s giving the money to charity, just exactly what charity? There are plenty of organizations thinly disguised as charities that could/would funnel the money right back to her.
I have the same question for any politician who gives questionable funds to charity. Name the charity.
Everyone else is giving it to charity and she gives it back to the crooks.
Maybe she expects it to be returned after it has been laundered by the Chinese.
A Chinese Money Laundry.
Boy, that's politically incorrect.
Bolee, rads poradacrie encolek.
Tenjooberrymuds.
How do we know it will get returned? Cause Hillary says so?...Bwahahahahahahahahaha.
This tiresome old battleaxe and the people around her want to run the country, and they are too stupid to realize that Chinese throwing money at them in great gobs is probably illegal. They are certainly cognizant of it, but take the money and use it. She still retains the political gain that it bought her, even though the original money is returned.
Now that I think about it, returned to whom?? Norman?? Or those he scammed it from?
Clinton’s camp is getting very nervous. Dollars to donuts this cash is coming directly from the Chinese military in Bejing. The Feds should get HSU in protective custody and conduct an in depth investigation.....I wouldn’t trust our CIA.
This is playing out, like the financing for “Air America”.
I’ve got a very stupid question——???
?? How can she/it identify that $850k in Hsu “influenced donations” are all that has been given to her campaign??
Seems to me that each of her donor’s contributions bear the signature of the giver - not a bundler! How can she determine that Hsu has anything to do with the Paws, - for instance - or, any other illicit contributions.
My nose is registrating total Bull Sh*t!
Has the media or anyone else ever checked out the ‘charities’ all this illegal campaign money is going to? It wouldn’t surprise me that phoney charities are set up in advance specifically to re-channel the money right back to them.
Anyone want to bet she got 10 times that from Hsu and the chinese??
Pray for W and General Protectus
OpenSecrets' Donor Lookup comprises contribution data available electronically from the Federal Election Commission on Monday, August 27, 2007. Because campaigns and other political committees typically disclose their contributions on a quarterly or monthly schedule, it can take several months for a contribution to be recorded in this database. |