Free Republic

A New York investment group run by one of the promoters of the 1969 Woodstock festival has sued disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu for allegedly funneling $40 million in financing for a nonexistent clothing company into political campaign contributions and an "extravagant international lifestyle." The lawsuit brought by Source Financing Investors LLC says Hsu fooled investors into believing they were financing an operation to supply Chinese-made clothes to U.S. retailers when in fact he was running a Ponzi scheme, in which initial investments are repaid with money from subsequent investments until the operation collapses. Hsu, 56, was convicted in San...

Talk show host Jerry Springer has given $50,000 to a political committee that is helping several Florida Democrats, including attorney general hopeful George Sheldon and Mary Barley, a candidate for commissioner of agriculture. Springer gave the money to the Kew Gardens Committee, an Internal Revenue Service 527 committee, whose founders are trying to remain anonymous. Such IRS committees can collect unlimited amounts of money as long as they don't specifically call for the election or defeat of a candidate. Kew Gardens has supported Sheldon and Barley with mail- out advertising portraying them favorably. Springer also gave $500 in a direct...