Home > Politics > Political Radar

« Previous | Main | Next »

Clinton Fund-Raiser Faces New Charges

Share

September 20, 2007 1:20 PM

ABC News' Rick Klein and Aaron Katersky Report: The bad news is getting worse for Sen. Hillary Clinton's fund-raising operation.

Norman Hsu, the disgraced former Clinton fund-raiser, now stands accused of defrauding investors out of more than $60 million, with a new criminal complaint unsealed against him in Manhattan on Thursday. Hsu faces up to 45 years in prison under the latest charges.

US Attorney Michael Garcia said Hsu linked his business transactions with his support for political candidates, saying that Hsu used others as "straw donors" to have people "make contributions in their own name but on his behalf."

"Hsu made victims believe that failure to make political contributions to candidates he supported would jeopardize their investment relationship with him and put their money at risk," reads the criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.

This is the first time that Hsu stands accused of specific campaign-finance improprieties. Garcia said Hsu reimbursed donors after they made contributions to campaigns, to skirt federal regulations that limit individuals to making contributions of $4,600 per candidate per cycle.

Garcia said he has been in touch with the Clinton campaign, and that officials there have been cooperative.

Speaking on CNN on Thursday, Clinton said she was unconcerned about the impact on her campaign.

"This happened to a lot of campaigns, a lot of investors who made investments that unfortunately don't look like they were treated appropriately," she said. "The system of justice will work its course and I think that's appropriate."

Though Clinton, D-N.Y., has already pledged to return the $850,000 Hsu brought in for her campaign, this keeps an embarrassing story alive for the Democratic front-runner, even as other Clinton fund-raisers face renewed scrutiny. Read more in today's Note at ABCNews.com.

Hsu is already in federal custody on an unrelated charge in California, and agreed this week not to fight extradition to that state from Colorado, where he was captured after fleeing a scheduled court appearance.

Though other candidates also have fund-raisers who are facing legal troubles, Clinton is in a more perilous place politically than other Democrats because of the fund-raising scandals under her husband's tenure in the White House.

Already, former senator John Edwards, D-N.C., has reminded voters on the campaign trail about fund-raising scandals involving the Lincoln Bedroom. Several other candidates, most notably Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., have begun to raise questions about Clinton's electability, given the bad memories many voters harbor over the scandal-plagued 1990s.

September 20, 2007 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (10)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

they should let the guy go.
obviously his heart is in the right place. the investers were probably republicans anyway...

Posted by: phillip alegata | Sep 20, 2007 4:13:58 PM

Good god....LOL Phillip get a clue...republicans investers are you lost...your joking..right....The Clinton corruption has be going on since Bill was Govener.....hill never stop. The Left can do no wrong...that's how they thing...

Posted by: Freddie | Sep 20, 2007 4:35:07 PM

Hsu contacted FBI agents last Thursday and said he “wanted to speak with them about his current criminal activity without his lawyers present.” During a September 14 meeting with Hsu, who was imprisoned in Colorado on an outstanding warrant from California, the swindler waived his Miranda rights and admitted his operation of a multimillion dollar investment scheme. He also acknowledged that he “made implied threats to his investors to pressure them to contribute to political candidates he supported.”

Posted by: Wake Up Little Hsusie | Sep 20, 2007 4:39:30 PM

looks like the Red Chinese are putting in thier money for the democrates yet again just like the 90's.

Posted by: Larry Thompson | Sep 20, 2007 6:00:17 PM

Well, this isn't good for Hsu's dirty money takers. I mean, didn't we learn long ago this guy was dirty and people were still taking his money? The are guilty by association.

Posted by: TexBork | Sep 20, 2007 8:35:59 PM

Notice how this story is buried on the political page. At least ABC mentions it. The other major networks are even more eager to minimize it, and it appears only Fox News put it on the front page. Yet imagine if Fred Thompson had to give back almost a million dollars in contributions.

Media bias is alive and well.

Posted by: James | Sep 20, 2007 9:50:59 PM

Hsu has contributed to many people. Why do you only pick Clinton's name? Are you hired by Karl Rove?

Posted by: Wanna | Sep 20, 2007 10:38:20 PM

Good point, globalcitizenlinda. Obama also had to give back a good chunk of money. It'll be nice to see a full list, if anyone knows where that can be accessed.

Posted by: James | Sep 20, 2007 10:54:25 PM

As I commented on another post, this guy has been a felon on the lam for fifteen years and the Clintons knew it. Which means Bill won his presidency with the partial use of illegal campaign funds. No suprise there. Bill got his! This also means Hillary is campaigning on illegal funds too. If you expect anyone but a democrat to believe Hillary didn't know she was taking "dirty money" from Hsu, Hillary's got some Whitewater land for sale. The democrats are finally realizing that all the Clintons' money is "DIRTY"!

Posted by: joe nunyabis | Sep 21, 2007 6:57:54 AM

How about looking at the Indian Corporation making contribution to the Clinton's. Another corrupt foreigners trying to buy influence in return for favors. New York is now full of Indians immigrants.

Posted by: marc | Sep 22, 2007 8:57:05 AM

Post a comment