Hsu associates touted his connections

Documents show how the fundraiser's network pitched the deals that allegedly turned his Clinton ties into gold.

Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu reveled in his role as friend to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

As Hsu raised more than $800,000 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, the couple praised him at star-studded events and showered him with thank-you notes. Hsu often wore a bomber jacket that bore the presidential seal, a gift from the former president, he told associates.

But Hsu's turn in the political limelight was about more than ego gratification.

Documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show how Hsu's business associates traded on his connections -- going so far as to claim that former President Clinton was a Hsu client -- to lure investors into a scheme that took in tens of millions of dollars nationwide.

A marketing brochure distributed by an Orange County firm to attract investors to Hsu's business claimed the 56-year-old Hong Kong native's "extensive political investment community includes former President Bill Clinton, who continues to invest to this day."

Howard Wolfson, a Clinton spokesman, denied that the former president had invested with Hsu. And Sen. Clinton's financial disclosure statements show no investments or income from Hsu for her or her husband.

Still, as a marketing tactic, the claim may have worked all too well: A Southern California couple recently filed a lawsuit saying they lost more than $3 million in a Hsu-run Ponzi scheme -- based in part on the brochure's promises.

Article is trying to push back towards Hsu's supposed "Ponzi scheme" (mentioned 3 times, including old statement during indictment), not a word about money-laundering for Hillary's campaign. But... some new info and another lawsuit about more than $3M and "guaranteed" annual returns of up to 28%.

New names : Yosemite Capital Management, Ashton & Associates and Ashton Investments

It’s amazing that anyone with large sums to ‘invest’ could be foolish enough to think a Clinton association is a positive recommendation for financial investments!!

Exactly! And yet, apparently that's what they are trying to convince us of:

From How a Business Flop Became Political Force [Hsu]

Mr. Waters says he asked few questions before investing. "I figured if Hillary trusted him, I could trust him,"

That's all it took!? This guy is a self-identified Republican, as many others who got "caught up" in this money laundering scheme. And they all trusted Hillary so much that they invested millions of dollars and/or their life savings? And she was not even an underwriter of the venture... And most of them made "commission" payments to Hillary in the form of political donations to her campaign.

And from this article :

"He believed them when they said it was safe," Tidus said.
Before investing, Adams said, he met with Ashton & Associates President Mark Cheshire and Ashton Investments President Kevin Cornish at Ruby's Cafe in Tustin. He brought along Heckler.
At the meeting, the lawsuit alleges, "Heckler actually expressed the view that the bridge-loan investments sounded like a Ponzi scheme." Yet after learning that he could earn commissions by bringing clients into the venture, Heckler became an "enthusiastic" supporter of the investment, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also says Heckler ignored a plea from Gregory Adams' mother to keep him out of the bridge-loan deals because they sounded too good to be true.
Gregory Adams ended up putting most of his assets -- including his IRA -- into Hsu's scheme, wiring more than $3 million into it between June and August, the lawsuit says.

I think that's the idea behind the "Hsu's massive Ponzi scheme" story line that has been adopted by al-media, even though it's pretty obvious that it was a massive political money laundering operation.

Whether the investigation will go there or become another "Fitzgeralding" sham where certain things are "overlooked" and/or ignored at all costs, remains to be seen.

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