Democrats Turn Swamp of DC Corruption Into Swimming Pool

The politics of corruption continues and the Democrats are up to their necks in these kinds of arrangements. In fact, as Hot Air notes, Hassan Nemazee makes Norman Hsu look like a small time crook.

Hassan Nemazee, chairman of Nemazee Capital Corp. and a fundraiser for President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, was arrested on charges he used phony documents to trick Citigroup Inc. into lending him as much as $74 million.

Nemazee got the loan by telling Citibank he held accounts with hundreds of millions of dollars that could serve as collateral, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said today in a statement. The financier used fake addresses and phone numbers controlled by him to mislead the bank, prosecutors said.

The accounts “either never existed or had been closed years before Nemazee submitted the documents referencing those accounts,” Bharara said in the statement.

Nemazee, 59, repaid the loan to Citibank yesterday, a day after he was interviewed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, prosecutors said. The interview took place at Newark Liberty International Airport as Nemazee was checking in for a flight to Rome.

In an interesting turn of fate, Nemazee is being represented by Marc Mukasey, who is the son of Michael Mukasey, an Attorney General under President Bush.

So, who is Nemazee? He had some key ties to major Democratic party figures, including three candidates for President: John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. He also was involved in the DSCC, which is run by Sen. Chuck Schumer (via Ace of Spades).

For Democrats who claimed that they would drain the swamp of corruption in Washington, we're finding that they haven't so much drained the swamp, but flooded it turning it into a swimming pool for their excess.

In fact, in a related item, Rep. Charles Rangel was caught underreporting assets once again to the tune of $500,000.

Hsu Don't Say! Norman Hsu Found Guilty Again

This is just another conviction on Norman Hsu's record, but it's one with a certain political flair. Hsu was convicted on four counts of campaign finance fraud for steering thousands of dollars to politicians like Harold Ford and Hillary Clinton. In fact, nearly all of Hsu's bundling was for Democrat candidates and political groups, including Chuck Schumer's DSCC.

The verdict came after 2 ½ hours of deliberations in the criminal trial of Hsu, 58, in federal court in New York. It follows his guilty plea on May 7 to cheating investors out of more than $20 million in a Ponzi scheme, for which he may face 30 years in prison.

Hsu was convicted of four counts of campaign finance fraud in a trial that lasted six days. Defense attorney Alan Seidler said he would appeal the jury’s verdict that Hsu secretly repaid about $98,000 to political donors from 2004 to 2007.

“He was pretty calm, actually,” Seidler said of Hsu as the jury read the verdict.

Prosecutors said Hsu used campaign donations to win accolades from prominent politicians, which he used to lure new investors into his Ponzi scheme. They offered evidence that he made illegal reimbursements to six of his investors who contributed funds to politicians including then-U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and then-U.S. Representative Harold Ford of Tennessee.

“Norman Hsu is directing where donations are going to go,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Willscher told jurors in closing arguments yesterday.

Didn’t Testify

Hsu didn’t testify at the trial. Seidler said Hsu’s investors made contributions on their own to win admission into an investment pool paying as much as 24 percent returns in 12 weeks. He’ll be sentenced on Aug. 19. Prosecutors contend that Hsu deserves more than 30 years in prison, Seidler said.

The verdict caps a long legal odyssey for Hsu, who is being held in prison. In 1991 he pleaded no contest in California and was convicted of stealing $1 million from investors in a scheme involving latex gloves. He failed to appear for sentencing.

In his 15 years as a fugitive, he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democratic candidates, including Clinton, and became one of the biggest political donors in the country, prosecutors said.

At the trial, prosecutors said Hsu attracted investors by telling them of his seemingly close connection to politicians they admired. The government presented evidence that Hsu was among Clinton’s top fundraisers and claimed to have flown on a private plane with former President Bill Clinton.

He arranged big donations to political campaigns from people who had no ability to pay such amounts, and he was doing so while as a fugitive from California authorities. In fact, he was operating right under their noses in plain sight as he was busy hobnobbing and rubbing shoulders with the power brokers of the Democratic party, and had even provided funding to then candidate Barack Obama.

Hsu has already been convicted of running a Ponzi scheme, which helps explain how Hsu was able to guarantee those results to his "investors" (aka suckers).

Hsu Wont Fly: Former Clinton Bagman To Plead Guilty

When last we recounted the story of Hillary Clinton's bagman, Norman Hsu, he was awaiting trial. Well, today we learn that he's pleading guilty to 10 charges of wire and mail fraud and operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded people out of $20 million.

Hsu made illegal political contributions to quite a few politicians, including Sen. Hillary Clinton. (HT: Jammie)

Also receiving largesse from Hsu? Bob Kerrey, and the DSCC, Ed Rendell, NYS AG Andy Cuomo, NYS former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and the TN and MI Democratic Parties.

Last year, Hsu was sentenced to prison in California for jumping bail and being on the lam for years - and turning himself into a major domo within the Democratic party money machine.

Ugly Associations

Well, Hillary will have plenty of chances to cry about this (HT: Instapundit). Norman Hsu will be making regular appearances in court.

As the trial of embattled Illinois political insider Tony Rezko creates headaches for Sen. Barack Obama, the legal fate of Sen. Hillary Clinton's famously disgraced campaign financier is playing out as well. Norman Hsu, who on Feb. 28 pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he cheated investors out of $20 million, appeared in the Southern District of New York on Friday. There was no trial. Rather, the former Clinton backer and his lawyers were there to structure the process for upcoming legal proceedings.

You do remember the Hsunami, don't you? Hsu was a big bundler for Hillary and other Democrats around the country, and was doing so all while being a fugitive felon from California. It's since been revealed that he also engaged in running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of millions.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama can't exactly capitalize off Hillary's woes, since he's got a problem of his own. Three actually (four counting Michelle Obama's penchant for saying rather inflammatory statements that aren't easily dismissed). Can you say Tony Rezko? I knew you could. That trial is also underway.

Then, there's the question of earmarks for a hospital where Michelle Obama worked. Not only did the hospital receive more than a million in earmarks (aka pork) directed by Barack in the US Senate, but Michelle Obama got a raise shortly thereafter. She says that it was just a coincidence, and who am I to argue.

Finally, there's Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who still holds an influential position in the Obama campaign and advised Obama in the past. Bad news doesn't begin to describe this lout.

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of Mr. Obama's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, gave the sermon at the school's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel in Washington on Jan. 15, 2006.

"We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he began. "Racism is alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. No black man will ever be considered for president, no matter how hard you run Jesse [Jackson] and no black woman can ever be considered for anything outside what she can give with her body."

Mr. Wright thundered on: "America is still the No. 1 killer in the world. . . . We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns, and the training of professional killers . . . We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Ghadhafi . . . We put [Nelson] Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God."

His voice rising, Mr. Wright said, "We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic. . . . We care nothing about human life if the end justifies the means. . . ."

Concluding, Mr. Wright said: "We started the AIDS virus . . . We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty. . . ."

Considering this view of America, it's not surprising that in December Mr. Wright's church gave an award to Louis Farrakhan for lifetime achievement. In the church magazine, Trumpet, Mr. Wright spoke glowingly of the Nation of Islam leader. "His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye-opening," Mr. Wright said of Mr. Farrakhan. "He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest."

The hits will keep on coming, and thus far Obama hasn't exactly gone out of his way to distance himself from Wright. His supporters, however, have gone off the deep end with comments such as this (via LGF). There's nothing that you can say that makes those comments appropriate with any kind of context. Wright is making all kinds of absurd statements that are nothing short of conspiracy theories flung about by the ignorant or hate-filled small minded people around the world.

Far from having an optimistic view on the world and America, Obama is surrounding himself with people who hold views that America is evil and needs to be changed - and that's the kind of change he's looking to implement.

UPDATE:
Well, since appearing on the Blog Bunker this afternoon, holy heck broke out over the Rev. Wright statements. Obama has appeared on Fox News and seemingly repudiated Wright, though one has to wonder whether Obama really understands just how fatal his comments were. Repudiation isn't nearly enough and the fact that Obama was a regular attendee at Wright's church suggests that he was far more familiar with Wright's rhetoric than just an occasional statement. As Hot Air points out, what did he know and when did he know it? Well, the fact is that Obama knew a whole lot more than he's admitted to, and as we should all know - it's not the crime, but the coverup. Here, Obama knew just how racist and off the wall his pastor is, and yet he kept him in the loop and was a close advisor of the campaign.

Combine this with still more revelations that Rezko raised far more money for Obama than previously disclosed and this has turned into one awful day for the Obama campaign. And yet, Hillary can't benefit - not with the whole Spitzer mess still swirling about.

UPDATE:
Just how far back did Obama know of Wright's penchants for throwing hate-bombs during his sermons? Far enough.

And is it too little too late for Obama to toss/push/ease Wright out of his campaign? Well, that remains to be seen. However, Tom Maguire thinks that this might be a real serious problem for the Obama campaign. Video and transcripts of Wright sermons will appear and they will reflect badly on Obama, who has gone on the record claiming that these were rare occurrences. Given that Obama says he was a regular at the church, once more of these items get out in the public, Obama's glow will disappear rather quickly.

Hsu Knows Prison

Norman Hsu, late of the Clinton bagmen guild, has been sentenced to three years in prison in California.

A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker's bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction.

Hsu's lawyers had asked Superior Court Judge Stephen Hall to dismiss his 1992 no contest plea, arguing his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him during his years as a fugitive. They could easily have arrested Hsu, his lawyers argued, at one of the fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians.

Hsu also faces federal fraud charges in New York.

This couldn't come at a worse time for Hillary Clinton, who's already reeling from the third place finish in Iowa, although her opponents may not be able to fully capitalize on the linkages because of their own association with the bagman.

You Know Hsu Indicted In New York

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Norman Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to political campaigns.

In the 15-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government accused the 56-year-old clothing-industry entrepreneur of duping investors nationwide with a massive Ponzi scheme.

Hsu was one of Sen. Hillary Clinton's big bundlers of campaign donations for her campaigns. This should be a major hit on the Clinton effort as she hasn't done nearly enough to distance herself from Hsu's odious efforts.

Michelle Malkin has more.

Hsu is in hot water in multiple states for criminal endeavors - both stemming from going on the lamb in California to campaign finance malfeasance, to operating a Ponzi scheme. Yet, Hsu managed to cozy up to some of the biggest names in the Democratic party during the time when Hsu should have been in prison in California on grand theft charges.

UPDATE:
Jammie notes that Reuters was even kind enough to address who Hsu was raising funds for in their headline. That's a start. Let's see them keep it up.

UPDATE:
A copy of the indictment is here. Of note are counts 13 through 15, which alleges campaign finance fraud for 2005, 2006, and 2007 respectively.

Equal Time?

Today, Bernard Kerik has been indicted by a federal grand jury in White Plains, New York for multiple charges. Kerik is closely tied to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is running for President on the Republican ticket. Rudy deserves to get dinged for his cozy relationship and the fact that Kerik hasn't shown the greatest character. You judge your candidates by the company they keep, and the media is already focusing on Rudy's questionable judge of character.

However, will equal time be given to investigate the salacious details of Democratic party presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton's ties to convicted thief Sandy Berger or convicted felon Norman Hsu? I sincerely doubt it.



When that photo was taken, Hsu was on the lam for skipping out on the sentencing hearing for his conviction in California for grand theft. He's now in custody for not only that crime, but for multiple charges in multiple states for operating a Ponzi scheme, violating campaign finance laws, and related charges.

If Rudy is rightfully grilled on Kerik, I want equal time for Hillary to deal with Sandy Berger, Hsunami, and one former President, Bill Clinton (who was disbarred for five years in a plea deal to avoid criminal sanction for committing perjury).

I just don't expect it to happen, even if it's possible that Barack Obama is leaking details of the Hsunami to the press.

UPDATE:
The NYT carries an AP wire story, which is indicative of the pervasive media bias. It talks ad nauseum of the effect the indictment might have on the Giuliani campaign, while the fact that Sandy Berger, who entered a plea deal for stealing classified documents from the National Archives, is an integral part of the Clinton campaign, and Norman Hsu was a major fundraiser for Hillary. That doesn't get nearly the same level of coverage, and the media isn't asking the same question as to whether it will be a hit on the Clinton campaign?

Here's what Kerik is being indicted for:

The charges in the indictment include mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, making false statements on a bank application, making false statements for a U.S. government position and theft of honest services, according to the person close to the investigation. The theft charge essentially accuses a government employee of abusing his position and defrauding the public.

However, the preceding paragraphs (there are six of them) all relate how this is bad news for Rudy. I can't recall a similar story pushed by the AP about the Hsunami and the bad news that means for Hillary's chances.

AP, your bias is showing.

UPDATE:
John McCain wasted no time linking the two. If I were McCain, I'd be wary of going down this road, especially if McCain doesn't want folks to remember his involvment in this, which is one of two reasons I would never vote for him (the other being the McCain Feingold free speech reduction act).

UPDATE:
Here's a copy of the Kerik indictment. If convicted, Kerik would spent 142 years behind bars. Ouch.

Dishwashers for Clinton

It's an excellent headline for an editorial, and it sums up the problem nicely. You've got campaign contributions by the thousands of dollars pouring into the presidential campaign for Hillary Clinton from people who, based on their professions, shouldn't have that kind of money available.

Is it the case of someone bundling money, as per Norman Hsu?

Is it shennanigans by the Clinton campaign people?

Is it a combination of the above?

I can tell you that it is yet another unintended consequence of the claimed need for campaign finance reform, which has done absolutely nothing to rid money from electoral campaigns. Instead, it has resulted in entities and individuals becoming far more creative in how they operate to skirt the law.

Bundlers take money from individuals who want to donate vast sums of money, and break it down into smaller chunks so that their favored candidates get the money. That's what the Hsunami is about, although in his case, no one knows the ultimate origins of the hundreds of thousands of dollars was - although Ponzi schemes aren't out of the question.

All this is bad news for the Clinton campaign, and fellow Democrats worry that they too many be smeared by the broad brush of the air of illegality, malfeasance, and possible criminality.

Funny Money Fundraising Hits Clinton Campaign Again

Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) ran for president in 2004, he received $24,000 from Chinatown.

At this point in the presidential campaign cycle, Clinton has raised more money than any candidate in history. Those dishwashers, waiters and street stall hawkers are part of the reason. And Clinton's success in gathering money from Chinatown's least-affluent residents stems from a two-pronged strategy: mutually beneficial alliances with powerful groups, and appeals to the hopes and dreams of people now consigned to the margins.

Clinton has enlisted the aid of Chinese neighborhood associations, especially those representing recent immigrants from Fujian province. The organizations, at least one of which is a descendant of Chinatown criminal enterprises that engaged in gambling and human trafficking, exert enormous influence over immigrants. The associations help them with everything from protection against crime to obtaining green cards.

Many of Clinton's Chinatown donors said they had contributed because leaders in neighborhood associations told them to. In some cases, donors said they felt pressure to give.

The other piece of the strategy involves holding out hope that, if Clinton becomes president, she will move quickly to reunite families and help illegal residents move toward citizenship. As New York's junior senator, Clinton has expressed support for immigrants and greater family reunification. She is also benefiting from Chinese donors' naive notions of what she could do in the White House.

It's a most curious situation given that many of those donors have simply fallen off the map and can't be found.

The Hsunami began when curious donations by the Paw family were found and digging by Flip and others found a huge number of bundled donations that were made under suspicious circumstances and by individuals whose source of income is highly suspect.

Are we witnessing the tip of yet another Clinton campaign fundraising scandal? It certainly seems that way.

Clinton eHsuing Returns

Hillary Clinton's campaign is slowly churning out refunds of tainted money scooped up by Norman Hsu and his strawmen. The problem is that they've only returned about 40% of the total, and those who are receiving the returns may not even be the rightful owners. Slip notes:

It's also important to remember that any of these Clinton donors who were reimbursed by Norman Hsu for such donations (allegedly with funds Hsu swindled out of unwitting investors) are not the legitimate owners of those funds. Hundreds of investors in New York and California who allege Hsu bilked them out of more than $60 million are the primary aggrieved parties to any such swindling. Clinton's refunds, however partial, represent only the first step in returning such funds to their rightful owners.

Let's not forget that Hillary would like to see that money re-donated to her campaign and has made those intentions known in the past.

For her, this whole mess is nothing more than an accounting issue. For me (and Flip and many others), it's an accountability issue.

Hsu-dacious

You have to hand it to Norman Hsu. If you think he's backed into a corner (or has backed himself in to a corner), he thinks of it as an opportunity.

He gets pleads guilty to a charge of grand theft in 1992 and instead of showing up for sentencing he goes on the lam. He gets rearrested a few weeks ago, only to go on the lam again and is arrested in Colorado.

Additional charges are pending in California and New York.

However, the original guilty plea is still in play, but Hsu now claims that the old plea deal should be tossed out because the judge who approved the deal has since retired.

Audacious.

There's no way he should win on such a claim since he created the conditions that resulted in the case dragging on for more than a decade. He cannot enjoy the benefit of the situation he created by evading justice for so long.

A Steaming Pile of Hsus

Don Surber points out that he would like to see Hillary and Hsu prosecuted in the same manner that Abramoff and Ney were. That would be fair, but for that tiny little letter after the name. It seems that one provides a cloak of invulnerability, while the other is kryptonite to the bearer.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which is which.

However, the Hsunami scandal isn't just about Hillary and the way that Hsu appears to have funneled money to her favored candidates around the country. It may also take down current New School President Bob Kerrey, who's a former US Senator and thinking of running for Senator from Nebraska to fill the seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel who is retiring at the end of his term.

Serious questions have to be asked about his judgment in that he repeatedly vouched for Hsu and didn't even bother running a rudimentary background check before bringing him in as a trustee of the University. Had he done so, the background check would have likely resulted in pulling up his criminal conviction for grand theft in California, along with the outstanding warrant for his arrest since he left the jurisdiction to avoid incarceration.

And wouldn't you know it, another figure in the whole scandal has gone missing. Have you seen Winkle Paw? Because he's nowhere to be found. Curious how that happens.

These guys do have a tendency to run for the hills as law enforcement comes calling. Where will he turn up is anyone's guess.

Hsu Don't Say

Norman Hsu should be a bigger problem for Hillary than has been assumed til now. He was far more closely aligned with the campaign and was apparently directing money to candidates around the country that were supporting her campaign. For those that forget, Hsu is a convicted felon in California, who is now up on multiple charges in multiple states for running Ponzi schemes and other shady schemes to bundle money for Democratic party candidates.

Disgraced fund-raiser Norman Hsu did a lot more than just pump $850,000 into Hillary Clinton's campaign bank account: He also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local, state, and federal candidates who have endorsed Clinton or whose support she courted.

A major fund-raiser for Democrats since 2003, Hsu became one of Clinton's biggest bundlers - gathering scores of individual checks and sending them to her campaign. But since revelations last month that Hsu was a fugitive in a 15-year-old California fraud case, Clinton has said she would return the $850,000 she has taken from him and his associates.

In at least some cases, Clinton or her aides directly channeled contributions from Hsu and his network to other politicians supportive of her presidential campaign, according to interviews and campaign finance records. There is nothing illegal about one politician steering wealthy contributors to another, but the New York senator's close ties to Hsu have become an embarrassment for her and her campaign.

Last fall, as the Nevada governor's race was heating up, Clinton agreed to help raise money for Democrat Dina Titus, a prominent party leader in a state that holds a key early presidential caucus. Clinton arranged for Hsu, at the time a little-known New York apparel executive with no apparent reason to take interest in Nevada politics, to give Titus $5,000 on Nov. 3, according to a person with knowledge of Clinton's fund-raising.

And in February, when former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack ended his own White House bid, he was about $450,000 in the red. A month after dropping out, Vilsack endorsed Clinton, and Clinton agreed to help him retire his debts. (Both insisted there was no quid pro quo.)

There is nothing illegal about one candidate helping out another candidate. The problem for Hillary is that she has repeatedly claimed that Hsu isn't that closely tied to the campaign, and yet there is mounting evidence that he was a serious player on the money side of the campaign - especially to shore up support among Democrats who back Hillary's run for the White House.

Fundamental questions still remain over where all the money came from in the first instance, and with multiple investigations into Hsu across the country, some interesting evidence is bound to pop up. The evidence is not going to look good for Clinton, whose reputation going back to Arkansas isn't exactly squeaky clean.

The Hsu, The Bagmen, and the Ugly

Flip has been out ahead of the crowd on trying to piece together the complicated puzzle that is Norman Hsu. He's found something that may make life for Hillary Clinton and other leading Democrats far tougher in the weeks to come.

It would appear that Norman Hsu was himself bundled into the campaign contributions of one Fred Hochberg.

Who is Fred Hochberg? Well, as Hot Air notes, Hochberg is the CEO of Lillian Vernon (the catalog company), a fellow "HillRaiser" and trustee of at the New School along with Hsu, and former cabinet member in the Clinton administration.

Was Hochberg whispering in Hsu's ear which candidates to support? When you note that Hsu's campaign contribution patterns seemingly fit with Hochberg, that becomes a distinct possibility.

Flip runs the numbers for Hochberg and Hsu, and the pattern appears. That may explain why these various candidates and politicians were recipients of Hsu's efforts, but it still doesn't fully explain where all the money came from, unless - and this is speculation on my part - Hsu was a conduit for Hochberg to avoid the campaign contribution caps.

Flip specifically notes the following:

The significance of the Hsu pattern actually being a borrowed Hochberg pattern is that it strongly implies a close and ongoing association between Hsu and Hochberg.

He goes out of his way to avoid linking the two in a scandal, but the question must still be raised based on the way the numbers are being run.

This cannot be chalked up to mere coincidence - not when you have dozens of contributions that suggest a pattern.

Still, one has to wonder how Hsu managed to put himself in a position to become a major campaign contributor despite being a convicted felon who was wanted by the state of California for going on the lam after failing to appear at his sentencing. Did no one think it odd that this guy appeared out of the blue and began throwing around big checks to leading Democrats across the country? Or, was the only question asked was whether the checks cleared?

Others blogging: Flopping Aces, Captain Ed.

UPDATE:
Ace wonders why the media and the prosecutors are approaching this case as though Hsu acted on his own, especially when the evidence seems to be pointing to a larger case of criminality. Good question. The answer may lie simply in who is being accused and who stood to gain from the shady campaign contributions.

UPDATE:
No bail for Hsu.

Norman Hsu, the Democratic fund-raiser with a habit of fleeing the law, confessed to F.B.I. agents last week that he had swindled investors in what the government describes as a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, and acknowledged pressuring at least some of them to contribute to political campaigns, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday in New York.

Today in San Mateo Superior Court, Mr. Hsu was ordered held without bail after returning to California from Colorado on an outstanding warrant for his arrest in a grand theft case, and after being charged in the New York fraud case.

The judge did the only appropriate thing in this case, because of Hsu's flight risk. Also, Hsu didn't have a habit of fleeing the law - he had a habit of openly flaunting it for more than a decade. There had to be more than one opportunity for someone to notice that Hsu was a convicted felon.

The article also notes that the investigators are being fed a line that the political donations were being used to help raise funds for Hsu's fraudulent schemes. That seems to run counter to Flip's findings, although Hsu's motives are far from clear other than he seemed to like living large on a house of fraudulent cards and liked to rub shoulders with leading Democratic party movers and shakers.

Pun-able

It's been quite a while since any of us has ever seen a grouping of news stories that can provide headlines so ripe for punning.

Norman Hsu - who's nefarious activities and criminality span the coasts. He's accused of running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors of $60 million, bundling millions of dollars for Democrats, including Hillary, Biden, Obama, the DSCC, and dozens of other Democrats across the country, and was a fugitive in California for leaving the country to avoid sentencing on a grand theft conviction.

Dan Rather - he's back in the news. Actually, he's the news as he's filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS over the Ra^thergate mess and he and his lawyers still think that those bogus documents are fake but accurate.

Last, but not least, is the mother of all media salivations:

OJ Simpson.

Is this a great country or what?

Hsu More Bagmen

Just when you think you've completed your list of questions relating to Norman Hsu, more questions appear - in the form of still more bagmen who collected money for Hillary's campaign. One is a fluke, two is a pattern, and three - well, it's a sign that someone really wants to collect money. Still more HillRaisers are showing signs of engaging in potentially illicit acts in bundling money.

Then again, some of the names appearing in the Hsu-nami should be familiar to those who saw something similar surrounding the Clinton campaigns during the 1990s although the issue of crooked bagmen isn't solely a concern for Democrats (even as they're the overwhelming majority in this growing scandal):

A list of the donors who have "bundled" large sums from dozens of individuals to give to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign includes several figures who were involved in the 1990s Democratic Party fundraising scandal that tarnished her husband's record.

Among them is an Oklahoma oilman who testified in the mid-1990s that the firm he worked for, owned by Democratic fundraisers, sought to curry favor with Bill Clinton's administration by providing payments and a golf club membership to a Cabinet secretary's son.

Democrat John Edwards's list of bundlers includes well-known fellow trial lawyer William S. Lerach, who raised $80,000 from his family and law firm partners for the candidate after a government probe had begun of Lerach's wrongdoing, campaign aides confirmed yesterday. Lerach pleaded guilty this week to a conspiracy charge, prompting Edwards to announce that he will give back Lerach's personal donations but not the money Lerach raised from others.

A close look at donors who have collected large sums from hundreds of people to give to the presidential candidates makes it clear that Norman Hsu, the convicted thief who attracted attention last month for donating $850,000 to Hillary Clinton, is far from the only controversial figure to play a major fundraising role in campaigns.

Republican Mitt Romney's list of bundlers until recently included Alan Fabian, who was charged in a 23-count indictment last month alleging mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore. Fabian's lawyer, David B. Irwin, has declined to comment about the merits of the case but told The Post last month: "We are hoping for an early resolution of the matter."

Hsu's now facing criminal charges in New York for operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of $60 million.

That still doesn't address how he managed to get the money donated to the various campaigns in the first place in his own name, let alone those that he bundled. Hsu was apparently skillful enough to con some pretty important people who should have engaged in due diligence to determine if he was reputable or not, though I have to wonder about just how much due diligence was done. I think my theory that he maintained a large bank account to portray himself as a successful businessman was part of the charade to show that he was legitimate, even if the money was all from shady interests.

Meanwhile, Hillary's campaign isn't exactly returning the money bundled by Hsu all that quickly. Flip has the details.

UPDATE:
Has Hsu all but admitted to wrongdoing in the criminal complaint filed against him? It may be just that as Flip has the highlights. Also, Hot Air points out what Hsu had on him when he was arrested after falling ill on that Amtrak train in Colorado.

During the search of the Evidence, I recovered the following items from the locked suitcase in the possession of NORMAN HSU, the defendant, at the time of his arrest: (1) HSU’s passport; (2) approximately $7,000 in cash; (3) checkbooks for bank accounts used by HSU to carry out his fraudulent scheme; (4) hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of checks from HSU’s victims; (5) bank receipts reflecting millions of dollars worth of financial transactions conducted by HSU; (6) hand-written ledgers reflecting specific amounts of campaign contributions to be made by specific victims on behalf of various candidates for Federal Office; (7) Federal Express shipping labels for materials sent by HSU via overnight mail from Components Ltd. in New York, New York; a Cartier watch and Tiffany jewelry; and (8) receipts reflecting HSU’s travel throughout the United States via a corporate jet service.

So much for the claim that Hsu had no idea where his passport was. It was on him when he was arrested, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks from his victims, and all manner of incriminating evidence.

Hsu-fly Pie in the Face For Democrats

The Norman Hsu affair continues to slowly build as more reports surface over Hsu's reach and sway among Democrats, especially Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). She's running for President, and the last thing she needs is someone to point out that she's got shady characters running around bagging money for her campaign. It's the kind of thing that got quite a few folks into trouble when her husband Bill was President.

While major papers are starting to pick up the story and are asking the very basic question of where the money came from, none are actually doing much to answer the question. No one still knows where Norman Hsu made the money, where all those bundled donations came from originally, and whether the money is legit.

The WP also emphasizes the overlap between Hsu's dodgy commercial interests (which certainly do seem illegal) and his political activity. But the mixing of business and politics is not uncommon, as the Post itself admits. Only after reading the front-page pieces on Hsu in the LAT and NYT does one start to realize what a unique character he is. The NYT paints him as an awkward man, desperate to be included in Hillary Clinton's big-ticket campaign events. He once threw a $20,000 party (not a fundraiser) in Clinton's honor—she did not attend. Last year he treated members of her campaign staff to a vacation in Las Vegas. With everyone now disowning him, you can see why he reportedly contemplated suicide last week.

That last bit shows that Hillary may have a far bigger problem on her hands than other leading Democrats since she's more closely tied to Hsu's shady persona.

The party has gotten the Clintons red-faced, and are trying to explain things away claiming that they thought that Hsu's rooms were comped by the casinos because Hsu was a regular at the Mandalay Bay.

Also, apparently her campaign is so in need of that $850,000, that she's got her people trying to track down those associated with Hsu to donate that money directly.

UPDATE:
Jammie reports that there is another fugitive donor who made the rounds among Democrats, and may have given to some GOPers as well. Figures. Well, if a GOPer is involved, I suspect that we might get more coverage of this story.

Still, how come the media and public isn't getting all Abramoff in the face of Clinton and the others? The money is quickly adding up, and yet the Abramoff scandal helped send DeLay packing from Congress, resulted in convictions for several GOP staffers and Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) (among others). Funny money abounds in DC, and yet we're getting a stifled yawn from the media types?

Curious. Very curious.

Hsu Got What?

You have got to be kidding me that a judge thought that $5 million bail is sufficient to keep Norman Hsu from running again. He's already gone on the lam twice. The first time was to avoid being sent to prison for grand theft in 1992, and he was a fugitive for 15 years.

He was only arrested again after being at the side of Sen. Hillary Clinton and other leading Democrats in the past month. When he was supposed to appear for a bail hearing, he ran a second time. Hsu was captured in Colorado after he apparently attempted suicide on an Amtrak train.

A new bail hearing was underway over the past 24 hours. The judge determined that $5 million was appropriate.

Are you kidding me?

He twice jumped bail and is clearly a flight risk. He's unstable and his lawyers clearly cannot control their client to keep him on a very short leash. If there was an instance of requiring a higher bail, this was it.

The prosecutors had initially demanded a $50 million bail in light of Hsu's history, while the defense team claimed that such a bail was "ridiculous." Hsu's lawyers also said that they were willing to waive extradition so that he could return to California to face the music on the original charges.

The sums of money circulating around Hsu are staggering - and I'm not talking solely about the campaign contributions:

Hautzinger also told the court, Hsu may have no trouble paying a lower bail.

"Our sheriffs office tells me, the defendant had a checkbook in his possession when he was arrested that reflected a $6 million dollar balance in that checkbook at least," said Hautzinger.

The New York District Attorney is now investigating Hsu for defrauding a New York investment fund out of $40 million dollars and today in court the prosecutor said he heard Hsu was also the target of an investigation of a possible scam in Southern California.

"Orange County authorities are on the verge of filing charges on a very similar alleged scam involving $33 million dollars with 50 different investors," said Hautzinger.

Somehow I don't think that's all to that story. The more investigations produce information, the more questions there are about Hsu. Also, in light of the New York investigations, one has to wonder where all that money went, and how Hsu enriched himself with that money. Suitably Flip is flabbergasted over the setting of bail in this case. If a checkbook shows $6 million, then setting bail below that amount provides more than ample opportunity to pay the bail and run again, despite the defense team's claims that Hsu is too ill to run again.

It would not be unreasonable to conclude that Hsu kept some portion of that money for himself in addition to the $6 million in the one discovered checkbook, meaning that bail could easily be satisfied, putting Hsu back on the street.

Also, there is no word about the passport issue - has he turned it in?

Meanwhile, Flip continues running the numbers on various politicians who have claimed to return monies related to Hsu, and he keeps running into discrepancies between what the politicians say is being returned (and returned to whom exactly if Hsu is a criminal and the money is tainted?) and what FEC records show as being contributed to the politicians?

Clinton's Hsu's To Lose?

This is something I noted early on - while Hillary Clinton was one of the biggest recipients of Hsu's money (ultimate source still unknown), other candidates couldn't take advantage of the situation because they too had taken money from him.

However, this is interesting news nonetheless: Hillary is returning all Hsu tainted money. That's more than $850,000.

Who actually is getting that money if it's being returned?

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign announced tonight that it would return approximately $850,000 to about 260 donors who had been recruited or tapped by Norman Hsu, the disgraced Clinton campaign fundraiser who recently fled arrest and is now under investigation for his fundraising practices.

The Clinton campaign also disclosed tonight that it had decided to begin running criminal background checks on its bundlers — the dozens of individuals who raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors on behalf of a candidate, as Mr. Hsu had done for Mrs. Clinton. A Clinton adviser said that “vigorous additional vetting” of the bundlers, including the criminal checks, would begin this week, and that the campaign was hiring additional staff for that purpose.

Mr. Hsu’s mounting legal problems have created the Clinton campaign’s first major in-house controversy. While Mr. Hsu donated $600,000 to an array of candidates over the last three years, he had become first and foremost a Clinton fundraiser for this presidential cycle — one of the so-called “Hillraisers,” who held events for Mrs. Clinton and aided her in the highly competitive money race with a leading Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

If I were the FEC and DOJ, I'd be looking into those 260 individuals and see whether the money was a pass through from other sources.

Hsu's Line Is It Anyway?

Danny has put together a list of puns that are all too easily roll off the tongue and keyboards of bloggers covering the Norman Hsu story. One of mine made the list.

However, much of the credit has to go to Flip, who has been dutifully trying to track down the money. A few media outlets are doing the same, and all are coming up with more questions than answers. Those questions all point to shady sources of money - and still more links to Sen. Hillary Clinton's donors.

And there's links to Chinese gangsters, freemasons, money laundering, and Hot Air has more.

The Hsu mess also has possible implications for Bob Kerrey, the current President of the New School and a possible candidate for Senator of Nebraska. Kerrey had no problem with Hsu and another shady character named as trustees of the New School, and likely didn't bother to see any red flags over money sources as long as the money was rolling in. Indeed, Kerrey recruited Hsu to become a trustee. This news sheds light on other trustees at the New School, and many are movers and shakers in Democratic party circles. However, with Kerrey contemplating the Senate run, Hsu's actions cast a bad light on Kerrey's judgment.

One also has to wonder over what happened on the Amtrak train that resulted in Hsu being taken to a hospital for treatment. Did Hsu suffer an illness, mental breakdown, contemplate suicide, or is he crazy like a fox to set up a possible defense against charges?

UPDATE:
For those who were thinking that Hsu's line of credit extended mostly towards Hillary's direction, there's now more evidence that Hsu was sending the money towards others - Sen. Obama included.

Mark Gorenberg, who now sits on Obama's national finance committee and is one of his biggest fundraisers, said Hsu organized an early 2005 event for the Hopefund and invited him to help raise money.

"He introduced me to Barack Obama," Gorenberg said of Hsu. "He was working on an event for Barack's PAC, and he asked me to help, and I did. Barack came up to San Francisco, and [Hsu] introduced him to a bunch of people."

Obama's campaign, which has donated to charity $7,000 in direct donations that Hsu made to Hopefund and his Senate campaign committee, confirmed last night that Hsu hosted a small event for the PAC in March 2005 in Los Angeles.

"We don't know how much that event raised, but we have received an estimated $19,000 from people who were associated with Hsu in published reports, all prior to Obama becoming a presidential candidate," spokesman Bill Burton said.

"We are in the process of sending these people letters to check the validity of their contributions. When Obama entered the presidential race, Hsu had decided to support Senator Clinton and bundle for her campaign," Burton said.

Obama announced Thursday that he plans to introduce legislation to require congressional and presidential candidates to disclose the identities of bundlers and the amounts they raise.

Gorenberg, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who oversaw California fundraising for Sen. John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential bid, and other members of Obama's national finance committee are committed to raising at least $250,000 each for the campaign.

These bundlers may be no more than bagmen, who are middlemen in influencing American politics from afar. No one knows where all Hsu's money originated. The same goes for the Paws and other contributions funneled by Hsu to Democrats across the country.