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Who Is Hsu? Captured Fundraiser Didn't Vote

September 07, 2007 12:25 PM

Whoishsucapt_mn Mysterious Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu is in custody again, after a brief return to a fugitive lifestyle he maintained for 15 years. But new questions are cropping up about his past.

The latest puzzle: Despite funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into Democratic coffers, Norman Hsu is not a member of the Democratic party. In fact, records appear to reflect he isn't even registered to vote.

Hsu's name does not appear on voter rolls in either California, where Hsu lived in the 1980s and early 1990s, or in New York, where he lived more recently, according to documents and state officials.

After news accounts last month exposed the criminal past of the tireless fundraiser, who had donated and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hillary Clinton and a host of other Democratic candidates, Hsu turned himself in -- only to skip out on $2 million bail.

He was nabbed by the FBI in Colorado last night and is being held in federal custody. Officials say he will be returned to California for sentencing.

Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.

Hsu, reportedly a naturalized U.S. citizen, would have been eligible to vote, say experts, even after his 1992 conviction on a fraud-related felony charge.

While California and New York state laws bar imprisoned and paroled felons from voting, Hsu was never sentenced for his 1992 felony conviction. Hsu skipped out on his sentencing hearing, returning to court only last week -- before skipping out again.

For those 15 years, "he was in a gray area," said Ryan King, a policy analyst with the nonprofit Sentencing Project, which studies state and federal incarceration policies. According to the laws, "he was eligible to vote until the moment he's sentenced to prison or parole."

Strange details abound in Hsu's biography. Before his trial, Hsu was the victim of a kidnapping reportedly tied to a Chinese gang in the San Francisco bay area. After dodging his 1992 hearing, Hsu is believed to have returned to his native Hong Kong for several years.

Details of his businesses remain sketchy. Upon investigation, many of his recent business addresses appear to be little more than mail drops, despite the thousands of dollars those companies reportedly helped generate for Hsu that bankrolled his donations.

Many donations Hsu harvested for his Democratic politician friends came from people who, like himself, were not registered to vote. Some political finance experts have noted the families did not appear wealthy enough to afford the big-money checks they reportedly wrote to Clinton and others.

Hsu's spokesman did not respond to a request for comment from the Blotter on ABCNews.com. Hsu and the donors have denied wrongdoing and say the donations were all legal. Clinton's campaign said it has donated to charity the money it received directly from Hsu. Many other campaigns have followed suit.

Now in custody, Hsu is being held without bail and facing years behind bars. Once he's sentenced to prison, California will take away his right to the ballot which he apparently never exercised.

In perhaps an ironic twist, the state won't take away his right to make political donations, Ryan said. State law does not prohibit felons from contributing to political campaigns, leaving Hsu free to continue funneling thousands of dollars to candidates and groups of his choice.

"If a candidate wants to accept it, that's a different story," Ryan noted.

Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?

September 7, 2007 in Norman Hsu, Clinton Fundraiser | Permalink | User Comments (43)

User Comments

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In another ironic twist the abc news hounds wrote this whole article without a whimper of the reason this man never voted. Lets play STUMP the network...roll the wheel please...as the wheel turns let us hear a few words from our sponsor...DEPENDS...if you keep electing octogenarians then you know you can DEPENDS on them...back to you doug

Posted by: daddy | Sep 7, 2007 12:41:33 PM

Maybe Hsu has been staying at his cousin Beldar Conehead's house? I thought the democrats would have eliminated this guy by now.

Posted by: Shane | Sep 7, 2007 12:42:31 PM

Either is ABC but they push a political agenda, which includes lying and distortion. The equivalent of screaming fire in a theater by abusing their access to the public airwaves.

Posted by: Browne | Sep 7, 2007 2:08:53 PM

Hsu was a fugitive PLUS he is one of the "Hillraisers" for Hillary Clinton and a big purchaser of Democrat politics. ChinaGate was swept under the rug by the lib media - campaign finance violations, anyone? De-javu? I see abcgo.com has removed it as a headline after about 30 minutes and this will also be swept away by Dems "friends in the media".

Posted by: Bill | Sep 7, 2007 2:43:41 PM

The liberal media will soon cover this story up. The media sides with liberals by a wide margin. If this guy was a fundraiser for republicans it would be page 1 for 5 months.

Posted by: Shane | Sep 7, 2007 8:10:17 PM

This story would grow legs and run throughout the entire political world if the media was trully wanting the best and seeking to right the wrongs for the good of the USA. Unfortunately, media journalists (loosely used word) will promote and report only stories and just the tidbits of the stories that would advance what the media wants. We need to fight for getting the good back in this country. If its not too late!

Posted by: John | Sep 7, 2007 8:36:46 PM

Who is he? He is one of Hillary's major fundraisers.

Posted by: bob | Sep 7, 2007 10:21:37 PM

The communists said they would take over our country without having to fire a bullet. Socialist groups like the aclu, judges, the media and most of our politicians have broken down family values, ruined education and have made a mockery of Christian values. Bloomingdale's may as well start selling Mao's standard grey neru suits.

Posted by: jerry todd | Sep 7, 2007 11:03:59 PM

This whole Hsu's thing makes me wonder how corruptive and dangerous our political system is in. You look at this crook: He screwed a number of poor chinese with phony scam by milking them one mil and got himself kidnapped. He escaped to HK for few years and back to NYC. The stupid media reports him some kind of successful business man while the address of all his companies are either bogus or mail box number. Is his business legitimate given his criminal background? Is this reasonable for us to suspect where his money and wealthy is coming from? This guy has never been involved political process only until after 2003. He is all of sudden so interested in Democratic Party's cause and turning into huge contributor of Dems. I couldn't believer my eyes this freak donated money dems from all levels, some as low as city coucileman to where he even does reside in.
What is relationship between Hsu and Paw family? How the money thing works in these two? How come a poor mail carrier making postal office wage can write some 200k checks to dems. Interestingly, Paw family does not show any pattern of being politically active, let along democratic party's politics.
Why all these criminal donators (remember Johnny?) are targetting dems?
Can our "journalist" dig into a little deep to see if communist China is behind all these?
All in all, our liberal friends won't be happy. That would cause them 08.
By the way, I am chinese american, I don't buy your liberal non-sense. I do not need a care or AA from government or your party!

Posted by: amChinese | Sep 8, 2007 3:46:09 AM

Our government seems to be run by special interest groups, holding money in front of our politician's faces!

Our so-called politicians no longer work for USA citizens, they work more for illegals, La Raza, big business and others.

Our politicians have prostituted themselves, and they are no better than "those" that stand on the streets!

Posted by: Bobc | Sep 8, 2007 8:38:16 AM

The Clinton/China scandal is one of the great non-covered stories of our time. There is something funny going on here. Why doesn't the press do it's job??

Posted by: McW | Sep 8, 2007 10:47:54 AM

So how does one verify that illegal contributions were indeed given to charity, and what charity it was?
What stops the charity from turning around and sending the contribution back to the candidate?
Can the candidate take the amount as a deduction on taxes?

Posted by: Lou | Sep 8, 2007 11:34:47 AM

This is goofy, y'all are wasting time here, there was nothing illegal about his campaign contributions, nothing, not one thing illegal since 1992. You stupidly speculate about how this makes Hillary a bad person. Why waste time here, if something good comes out,OK. Funny how everyone worries about this, defend Craig, ignore Iraq, push the outlandish budget under the rug, turn your back on terrorism in Afganistan, and act like you don't know what a military surge in Baghdad is. Again, what illegal campaign financing did he do?

Posted by: able | Sep 8, 2007 12:47:55 PM

Why isn't anyone reporting on what medical condition caused Hsu to be removed from the Amtrak on a stretcher and hospitalized? Was it a homicide attempt by the Chinese gangs that kidnapped him earlier? Or some other Akenside attempt at an addition to the Clinton body count?

For reporters you certainly don't seem very curious at such a relevant mystery!

Posted by: reality intrudes | Sep 8, 2007 1:32:06 PM

How typical of the press to focus on an aspect of the Hsu case that is so very irrelevant to this man's real history. What a total embarrassment to admit that no reporter has yet to come up with any tangible evidence of just how Mr. Hsu has been earning so much money operating sham businesses for 25 years since his graduation from Wharton. Apparently, the press has lost its sense of "smell" because anyone with half a brain knows for sure that the Hsu official biography does not pass the "smell test." Moreover, the Hsu story casts a dark cloud over Democrat fundraising -- the cloud of Chinese financial contributions made through dummy business people like Mr. Hsu. The only question appears to be whether Mr. Hsu was working for Chinese gangs or for the Chinese government (assuming the two are not the same).

Posted by: Duggan Flanakin | Sep 8, 2007 2:04:52 PM

They need to follow the money.

Posted by: Greg | Sep 8, 2007 3:24:12 PM

He's Bill Clinton's step brother!

Posted by: geddesman | Sep 8, 2007 4:36:38 PM

Hey, ABLE!!!!! Get a grip on sanity, how about it?

Ever hear of statutes that bar "foreign" contributions to political campaigns? Can you point me to the exclusion, IN LAW, that lets democrats skate on this crap?

Ever hear of "limits" per donor? Again, I've never heard of limits on "Republicans only".

Posted by: sndpaper | Sep 8, 2007 6:03:41 PM


I guess we can stop watching wall to wall Senator Craig foot tapping scandal nonsense now that the Hsu story is off the radar. The wall to wall coverage on Craig was just another "wag the dog moment in the Clinton playbook..This should have been investigated on mainstream TV. There is so much more to know. The Clintons and the Chinese go way back

Posted by: Holly Ricci | Sep 8, 2007 7:04:06 PM

Clinton's connection with this guy and Indian's TATA Corporation makes me wonder about the Clinton. I'll include Marck Rich too. Maybe she can pardon them when she gets elected. We don't need more crooks in the gov't.

Posted by: marc | Sep 8, 2007 7:42:57 PM

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