Clinton report lists refunds to 249 Hsu donors

LATimes ^ | October 16, 2007 | Tom Hamburger, Robin Fields and Chuck Neubauer

[CutePuppy]

Clinton report lists refunds to 249 Hsu donors

Much of the more than $800,000 that the campaign sent back ... came from California.

WASHINGTON -- The full extent of accused swindler Norman Hsu's political network was revealed for the first time Monday in campaign finance reports filed by presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who refunded $804,850 in contributions from 249 Hsu associates.

The donors came from 22 states and Washington, D.C., but Californians accounted for the largest amount refunded from the Hsu network, $308,000. New Yorkers contributed $286,000, and $55,000 came from donors in New Jersey and Connecticut. Investors in both California and the New York area were major participants in Hsu's financial operations.

..... In the 2005-2006 election cycle, the 249 donors gave as much as $670,000 to federal candidates other than Clinton, a comparison of the names with other campaign records shows. Among the other recipients, the largest appeared to be the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee at $78,000, followed by Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill with $43,000, and Harold Ford, a Tennessee Democrat who lost his race for the U.S. Senate, at $42,000.

Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.) received $28,000 and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee received $27,000. A political action committee for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill) received $24,500, and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's campaign got $19,000.

The Los Angeles Times arrived at the amounts by comparing the names and residences of Clinton donors linked to Hsu with the names of donors to other candidates in federal elections between 2004 and 2007.

..... Susan Waters, Martin's wife, said the family only donated to Clinton's campaign because of Hsu's pressure. "I've never been a Democrat and I've never given to a political campaign in my life," she said.

[CutePuppy]

Well, at least phony "Ponzi scheme" was not mentioned anymore, replaced by slightly more appropriate "swindle", but not the real crime - "money-laundering and funneling money to Hillary! and her Democrat friends' political campaigns."

Time line is appropriate and interesting - federal elections between 2004 and 2007. 2004 is the year Kerry lost election and Hsu suddenly became a board member of New School.

[CutePuppy]

Rosenman had set up an investment fund that provided $40 million to Hsu to invest in apparel manufacturing. Rosenman and his investors have sued to get their money back, saying the apparel companies existed on paper only.

.....The family of Martin Waters received $13,800 in refunded donations. Waters was an early investor in a Hsu "bridge loan" scheme and set up a company through which others in Orange County funneled investments to Hsu, according to court documents. Waters' company has also sued to get its money back.

The Paw family of northern California received $23,000 in refunds, according to Clinton's report. The Paws' activities first came to light in a Wall Street Journal report in August that revealed the family had made large donations to Clinton and other Democrats even though their address and economic status made them unlikely donors.

The family, headed by a mail carrier named William Paw, contributed more than $240,000 to a variety of Democratic candidates since 2004, often on the same dates that Hsu gave. The family declined to comment.

..... Hsu, 56, was once one of Clinton's most-valued supporters. Although unknown before 2003, by 2006 he had become a fixture at major fundraising events for Clinton-related causes, including the senator's campaign.

.....Last month, U.S. Atty. Michael J. Garcia of the Southern District of New York unsealed a 16 page complaint charging Hsu with mail fraud, wire fraud and violating the Federal Election Campaign Act by reimbursing associates for their political donations.

[sageb1]

"Susan Waters, Martin's wife, said the family only donated to Clinton's campaign because of Hsu's pressure. "I've never been a Democrat and I've never given to a political campaign in my life," she said." Pressure? Something not ring quite true here?

[CutePuppy]

“Pressure” to make campaign donations to Hillary = price Hsu was demanding for “investing” with / “lending” money to him because of extraordinary / exorbitant rates of return he provided.

Basically, Hsu seemed more interested in delivering campaign funds to Hillary and her friends than worrying about where the money will come from - classic money-laundering scheme.

[Recovering_Democrat]

NOT GOOD ENOUGH, HITLERY. I WANT A FULL ETHICS INVESTIGATION INTO WHAT YOU KNEW AND DIDN'T KNOW. YOU ARE WORSE THAN TOM DELAY, HITLERY: YOU ARE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT YET YOU ARE ACCEPTING DOLLARS FROM A FELON!

[Slump Tester]

It's a Clinton - historically when their mouth moves, they're lying their ass off.

Show me the canceled checks and where the money went.

[Shady]

Herself the First is NOT PLEASED with your illiterate and racist/sexist/homophobic rants against her.

[nyyankeefan]

Clinton report lists refunds to 249 Hsu donors...

but the piaps promised to give back the money!!!!

[Brilliant]

Pressure...

From what I read between the lines, a lot of these people had invested in Hsu’s ponzi scheme. Hsu apparently made it clear that if you don’t give to his favorite political party, then don’t expect to get your ponzi scheme investment back.

[bray]

Imagine if a Republican tried this, it would be on the NYT Front Page for 6 mos.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[Conservative Infidel]

So, Hsu ‘donates’ tens of thousands of dollars to hrc using names perhaps selected out of the phone book. These people deny having knowledge of these ‘donations.’ Hsu gets busted. The money gets ‘returned’ to the original donors. So does this mean that tens of thousands of dollars are being ‘returned’ to people whose names perhaps were selected out of the phone book? This sounds even better than Publishers’ Clearing House Sweepstakes...

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Why is Clinton allowed to distribute funds that may have been illegally funneled into her campaign? (And illegal they must have been, for her to divest herself of them.) Why is that money not seized or frozen? If there is a question that it was legally donated or raised, there should be a question whether it is legal to transfer it.

Meanwhile...did Winkle Paw cash his check? Last we heard he was “whereabouts unknown” since the arrest of Norman Hsu.

[Liz]

.........at least phony "Ponzi scheme" was not mentioned, replaced by slightly more appropriate "swindle", but not the real crime - "money-laundering and funneling money to Hillary! and her Democrat friends' political campaigns." ..........

Money-laundering is a biggie---but only part of the scheme. The spider web of campaign funding schemes unraveling include;

(1) Hsu/Hillary's Chinese money connection;

(2) illegal campaign bundling;

(3) data and ID theft;

(4) phony front companies (money laundries);

(5) phony investment companies (money laundries);

(6) phony campaign donors;

(7) IRS fraud; SEC fraud; FEC fraud;

(8) voter fraud;

(9) private-equity firm campaign fund-raising;

(10) bank/credit card co "borrowing" personal data.....

DATA AND ID THEFT Hillary filed false FEC reports, listing donations from people who said they never contributed to her campaign.........

IRS FRAUD Setting up front companies as laundries to evade corporate taxes then end up in Hillary's campign accounts.

SEC FRAUD Taking money out of companies to evade taxes that ended up in Hillary's campaign accounts (false names filed with the FEC to hide sources of money).

SEC FRAUD Setting up phony investment companies to fraudulently convert monies that ended up in Hillary's campaign accounts

======================================

BACKSTORY When he was nabbed, Hsu’s checking account showed a balance of $6 million. The records show that Components Ltd, (one of several businnes with phony addresses controlled by Mr. Hsu) that has no obvious business purpose and appears to exist only on paper, has paid a total of more than $100,000 to at least nine people who made campaign contributions to Mrs. Clinton (and others) through Mr. Hsu.

The payments occurred in the spring of 2003, several months before Mr. Hsu emerged as a contributor to Democrats and more than a year before he started bundling checks from those same people for various campaigns. In all, he has raised more than $1 million for Democrats (that we know of).

The records make clear that the group was more than just a loose collection of friends, family and co-workers that bundlers typically rely on when raising money for a candidate. Rather, each person had a direct financial relationship with Mr. Hsu, either receiving money from his company or paying into it, even though many of them appear to have other jobs or businesses independent of him.

One of Hsu’s "associates"---Joel Rosenman founder of the famed "Get Naked and Party Woodstock Festival"---claims he gave Hsu $40 million to "invest" and says it is now missing. Helpful hint: Rosenman oughta check offhsore accounts that link to Hillary's campaign accounts to find his $40 mill.

Aand BTW, where did Rosenman get the $40 mill to invest? And do stockholders of publicly-held companies know company assets are missing? Does the IRS know? Does the SEC know?

[Liz]

FReeper Calpernia shared with the forum that names used for donations could be fraudlent.....obtained through ID theft.

The MO might operate thusly-----stealing names---military, senior lists, credit card lists........then using the names to fake donor names (the money is actually proceeds from questionable perhaps illegal activities that are converted to offshore accounts then shipped back to the US).

The scheme would also allow Bill and Hillary to use their own funds in violation of FEC limitations.

[Unicorn]

BTTT

[apocalypto]

This should be a big, big story.

Two things should be clear to everyone: Hillary is unable or unwilling to answer questions and the media covers up for her. If Hillary does it, heck no big deal.

[sageb1]

Don’t forget that Hsu also donated to the Clinton Global Initiative for 2 years at a cost of a minimum of $15,000 per yr.

[Liz]

......Hsu also donated to the Clinton Global Initiative for 2 years at a cost of a minimum of $15,000 per yr..........

The biggest money launder scam on the planet---non-profits donating to non-profits.

[subterfuge]

YOU PEOPLE DON’T GET IT!!!!

THIS IS ABOUT NOTHING!!!

DON’T YOU REALIZE ANN COULTER SAID SOME THINGS AND SO DID RUSH BEFORE THAT?!!!!!!

LOOK AWAY FROM “SHE WHO MUST NOT BE DISMAYED”!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tiger640]

By the way, is anybody asking about, now that this money has been “refunded” to its rightful owners (sic), can the IRS expect that all these reimbursed “donors” will dutifully report all this income? This is about to blow up in my opinion. This fraud is so massive as to be unbelievable!!

Tip of the iceberg alert!!