Update: Hsu Found Guilty by Jury; Former Democratic Fundraiser, Hsu, Pleads Guilty to Ponzi Scheme & Fraud
Another small time Bernie Madoff. Norman Hsu pleads guilty!
Former top Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to charges he cheated investors out of at least $20 million in a massive Ponzi scheme.
The 58-year-old Hsu (SHOO) pleaded guilty to 10 counts of wire and mail fraud before U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero.
“I knew what I was doing was illegal,” Hsu told the judge.
The former Democratic fundraiser’s list of donors:
- Hillary Clinton
- Barack Obama
- John Kerry
- Barbara Boxer
- Teddy Kennedy
- Al Franken
- Debbie Stabenow
- Dianne Feinstein
- Jay Rockefeller
- Mark Udall
His contributions went 83% to Democrats; 17% to Other, and 0% to Republicans…
For more detail go to the smoking gun- they reported on this story back in December, but it was pushed under the rug because the Madoff case was the big news of the day.
UPDATE:
I reported above that Hsu was in fact a contributer to the Obama campaign – which should matter to Americans. What was not known was another interesting detail as to the extent of their relationship. Something the media will not report:
Businessman Norman Hsu, 58, was convicted by a jury in federal court in New York of violating election laws by making donations to political campaigns in other people’s names. Hsu also pleaded guilty on May 7 to charges of mail fraud and wire fraud in running a Ponzi scheme of up to $60 million.
Jurors convicted Hsu of violating four counts of federal election law between 2004 and 2007. During the trial, prosecutors said Hsu pressured some of the investors involved in his Ponzi scheme to make thousands of dollars in contributions to political candidates on his behalf.
Obama has considerably more of a connection to Hsu than Reuters relates. In 2007, The Washington Post reported in the story “Hsu Steered Major Fundraiser to Obama:”
Before becoming a major bundler for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign, disgraced Democratic donor Norman Hsu helped host a 2005 California event for Barack Obama’s political action committee and introduced the senator from Illinois to one of the biggest fundraisers for his presidential bid.
Federal Election Commission records show that Hsu gave $5,000 to Obama’s Hopefund PAC in connection with the fundraiser and that people publicly identified with Hsu and his companies gave an additional $19,500 to the PAC in 2005 and 2006.
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 relationship with sleazy hustlers like Norman Hsu doesn’t comport with the narrative of Mr. Hope and Change tailored by the mainstream media. That’s possibly why Hsu’s conviction, which occurred this morning, still hadn’t been reported on CNN as of 4:00 PM (ET) this afternoon.
Chock it up to more hope and change!
