Runaround Hsu
It was only on August 28 and August 29 that the mysterious story of Normal Hsu came to light. Now this major political fund raiser has vanished. LAT
A warrant was issued this morning for Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who failed to appear for a bail hearing on a 15-year-old grand theft charge. San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert D. Foiles ordered Hsu, a major fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, to be held without bail should he make an appearance. Last week, Hsu was released after posting $2 million bail.
Hsu’s attorney, James Brosnahan, explained that he had lost contact with Hsu and that the financier had failed to deliver his passport as promised. “Mr. Hsu is not here and we don’t know where he is,” Brosnahan said outside court. “We expected him to be here.” Brosnahan told Foiles that a legal assistant for his law firm went to Hsu’s New York City condominium last week and spent 90 minutes searching for Hsu’s passport.
Prosecutors in California said Hsu disappeared in 1992 after pleading no contest and agreeing to serve up to three years in prison for defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme.
The NYT adds:
those who had initially defended Mr. Hsu when his legal problems became public were baffled. Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator who is president of the New School in New York City, where Mr. Hsu was a trustee, could not explain Mr. Hsu’s behavior. “I don’t know what is going on in his mind,” Mr. Kerrey said. “I thought that I knew him, but obviously I didn’t.”…
Mr. Hsu’s disappearance deepens the mystery surrounding much of his life since he vanished 15 years ago. For part of the 1990s, he was in Hong Kong…The Justice Department is looking into Mr. Hsu’s fund-raising activities. One unknown is the source of his money. In campaign finance reports, he lists companies related to the apparel industry, but efforts to verify his involvement in them have been fruitless. An address he gave for his office in New York appeared to be little more than a mail drop, and people who work nearby said they had rarely seen him.
Since word of Mr. Hsu’s fugitive status became known, Democratic candidates have been rushing to rid themselves of Mr. Hsu’s money — among them Senator Barack Obama of Illinois; Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York; Al Franken, the comedian and political commentator who is a Minnesota senatorial candidate; and Representatives Michael M. Honda and Doris Matsui of California.
“One unknown is the source of his money.” Funny. We think that just might not turn out to be a surprise when all is said and done.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:34 am
One wonders if blue state California would have allowed Hsu to post bail if he had been donating to repubs? Awfully convienient for the dems that he has vanished, don’t you think?