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!

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Anita Monicef is one brave woman and deserves some major credit/kudos! 

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I don’t know what to make of this but it seems like a pretty big deal.  Will it be pushed under the rug or become a thorn in the side of those involved?  You be the judge.

Whether the story is bigger than Watergate or not, it is definitely a scandal of huge proportions.
To sum it up, on April 23, 2009, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sent a letter to Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chris Dodd; Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank; SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro; and Chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel Elizabeth Warren.
The letter outlined how former Treasury Secretary Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke forced Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch – even though Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and the board of directors tried to pull the plug on the deal after it turned out that Merrill Lynch was far deeper in debt than it had admitted.
In the words of Attorney General Cuomo himself:

Immediately after learning on December 14, 2008 of what Lewis described as the “staggering amount of deterioration” at Merrill Lynch, Lewis conferred with counsel to determine if Bank of America had grounds to rescind the merger agreement by using a clause that allowed Bank of America to exit the deal if a material adverse event (“MAC”) occurred. After a series of internal consultations and consultations with counsel, on December 17, 2008, Lewis informed then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that Bank of America was seriously considering invoking the MAC clause. Paulson asked Lewis to come to Washington that evening to discuss the matter.

Bank of America’s attempt to exit the merger came to a halt on December 21, 2008. That day, Lewis informed Secretary Paulson that Bank of America still wanted to exit the merger agreement. According to Lewis, Secretary Paulson then advised Lewis that, if Bank of America invoked the MAC, its management and Board would be replaced.

Meanwhile Ken Lewis has been sacked as chairman of the board at Bank of America… even though he might well have been the only conscientious and honest player in this scheme. And now the sharks have started to turn on each other: according to Cuomo, Paulson “largely corroborated Lewis’s account” and informed the attorney general’s office that he “made the threat at the request of Chairman Bernanke.” The latter has so far chosen to keep his mouth shut.
The key factor here is not that the Devious Duo forced Bank of America into a merger it didn’t want to commit to. Granted, that’s an unheard-of interference of government in the free market, but we’re quite sure that the Powers-That-Be could sweep it under the rug by invoking the “greater good.”
No, the part of the story that could really break ‘Al’ Paulson and ‘Don’ Bernanke’s necks is the failure to inform the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as Bank of America’s shareholders, of the extent of toxic waste Bank of America was forced to accept. That’s fraud, pure and simple.

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The latest ridiculousness from Arlen Specter.

Specter has not only disappointed his constituents once, but twice.  He lied to Pennsylvanians and told them that it was important to have checks and balances in Congress which is why they should elect a Republican to maintain that balance, and then switched his party affiliation to Democrat in order to remain competitive in his bid for another Congressional election.

Now he has the gall to set up a fake website that is just another money making scheme for the old coot!  The website passes off as a fund raising website to find cures for various diseases through medical research, but after reading the fine print – it’s really just a way to take in campaign contributions.

Check it out…Specter for the Cure.

Michelle Malkin has filed an FEC complaint against this RAT.  I can tell you one thing – he certainly chose the right party to switch over to!  DemocRAT.

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Democrat, corruption be thy game!

Democrats have recently come under fire for the recent corruption and scandals that they have been involved with.  However, this has only been discussed on much of the conservative blogosphere due to the fact that the media will cover up any Democrat scandal in order to get Obama’s agenda passed and not do anything that could put Democrats in a poor light and hurt approval ratings.  Some people are already getting the hint and beginning to wonder why the media only reports on things that are completely non-news worthy such as the Obama’s holding hands on the White House lawn.

Someone with a brain and the ability to think for themselves should find the reporting by most of the media outlets (left-wing by nature) quite fishy.  Maybe if they did their homework on their own and looked some things up on the Internet they could find the truth and find out that the Democrats are probably more corrupt than the Republicans.

Much of this stems from power and control and unfortunately, for the Democrats, they have had control of congress since 2006 and now they have control of the executive branch.  This means that liberals control government and liberals almost always increase government.  As government tends to grow so does corruption.  Watch the following video:

The various scandals that have arisen over the last month or so include Diane Feinstein’s husband’s conflict of interest and business practices:

Feinstein sought $25 billion for agency that awarded contract to spouse

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband’s real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.

Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments – not direct federal dollars.

Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) – the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman – had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum’s private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE’s stock closed Monday at $5.14.

This is actually the second time this exact situation has happened to the Feinstein’s – one would assume it was on purpose…

Then there are the kickbacks to John Murtha’s nephew via defense contracts:

The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On several days of visits, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building.

Yet last year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services. With its long corridor of sparsely occupied offices and an unmanned reception area, Murtech’s most striking feature is its owner — Robert C. Murtha Jr., 49. He’s the nephew of Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has significant sway over the Defense Department’s spending as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.

Robert Murtha said he is not at liberty to discuss in detail what his company does, but for four years it has subsisted on defense contracts, according to records and interviews. He said Murtech’s 17 employees “provide necessary logistical support” to Pentagon testing programs that focus on detecting chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, “and that’s about as far as I feel comfortable going.” Giving more details could give important clues to terrorist plotters, he said.

What about Nancy Pelosi knowing about the Harman wiretap a while back?  She said nothing and acted aloof when the topic came up – same amnesia she had with the CIA memos and waterboarding…

Report on Detainees Raises New Questions for Obama Hoyer Voices Concern Over Wiretapping of Members Democratic Senate Women to Headline Event for Gillibrand NAFCU Board Votes to Publicly Oppose Cram-Down The National Security Agency briefed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “a few years ago” that they had wiretapped Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), Pelosi revealed Wednesday.

But Pelosi said she was not told what federal eavesdroppers picked up on the call — and never alerted Harman to it.

“It was not my position to raise it with Jane Harman,” Pelosi told reporters at the Christian Science Monitor lunch. “In fact, I didn’t even know if what they were talking about was real. All they said was that she was wiretapped.”

And we came to find out that Jane Harman was also under investigation for her own corruption scandal dealing with an Israeli lobby illegally.  Pelosi also didn’t want to have the corruption and ethics probe committee created by Jeff Flake who is a Republican in the House.

The most recent corruption scandals involved John Edwards and Bill Richardson, two Democrats.

John Edwards is under investigation by the Feds for his campaign funds when running for president in 2007/2008 before dropping out and endorsing Obama:

RALEIGH Federal investigators are sifting through the records of money that helped John Edwards’ presidential campaign to determine if any was used to keep quiet his affair with Rielle Hunter.

Edwards, a Democrat and former U.S. senator, acknowledged the investigation to The News & Observer.

“I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly,” Edwards said in a statement.

“However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter. We appreciate the diligence and professionalism of those involved and look forward to a conclusion.”

Edwards declined to discuss the matter.

A review of Edwards’ campaign money will turn up a cluster of nonprofits, some not subject to the same rules of transparency as official campaign organizations.

Records of one group that does disclose donors, the Alliance for a New America, show that Edwards’ 2008 campaign got a huge boost from a single source: $3.48 million from a holding company for Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon, a 98-year-old matriarch of industrialist Andrew Mellon’s fortune.

The mainstream media failed to mention the connection between Rattner and Bill Richardson, however, there are two links that when connected should help here and here…

Mr. Rattner forged close personal ties in New Mexico, which invested $20 million in Quadrangle. He met with Senator Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat from that state, on at least one occasion, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. From about 2004 until early this year, Quadrangle also employed the senator’s son as an associate.

A spokeswoman for Senator Bingaman said that the senator’s son did not raise money for Quadrangle, but instead helped make investments. Senator Bingaman was not involved in the pension process, she said.
Funny that the good state of New Mexico should be so prominently mentioned, absent an important connection: former [Sorry. Not "former." I have no idea why I typed that!] New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. As it turns out, Richardson has some significant ties to Rattner, as well as the aforementioned “pension process.”

From the New Mexico Independent:

Steven Rattner, the head of President Barack Obama’s auto-bailout program and a man who has been linked to a New York pension scandal that has tentacles in New Mexico, gave $5,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign and $15,000 to Richardson’s 2006 re-election bid.

That’s according to the money-in-politics Web site followthemoney.org.

Richardson heads the State Investment Council (SIC), which manages the state’s investments. In October 2005, the SIC voted to invest $20 million with Quadrangle Group LLC, according to minutes of the meeting. At the time of the 2002 and 2006 campaign contributions, Rattner was a managing principal in the company, which he left in February of this year to take the auto-bailout job.

I’m hoping that all those who drank the Republican haterade are feeling so much better about voting for Democrats.

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ACORN is already under investigation and has been indicted, but not found guilty yet.  A recent bill was being passed in the House that would not allow for groups such as ACORN, under investigation, to receive federal taxpayer funds.  (Reported here).

This is a new charge brought against the group by a state attorney general who has the gumption to stand up for what is legal and just and call out this group of frauds who helped register fraudulent voters and were a party to actual vote fraud – mostly through early voting using the falsified voter registrations.  This is a major case and should not be taken lightly.  Group like these destroy Democracy and Freedom.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller announced Monday that voter registration fraud charges have been filed against an organization that works with low-income people and two of its employees in its Las Vegas office.

The complaint includes 26 counts of voter fraud and 13 counts for compensating those registering voters, both felonies.

The Association of Community Organization for Reform Now, Inc., also known as ACORN, operated a Las Vegas office that helped register low-income voters last year.

Throughout 2008, ACORN employed canvassers to register people to vote in Nevada, the complaint said. ACORN paid the canvassers between $8 and $9 an hour, but made continued employment and continued compensation based on the canvasser registering 20 voters per shift. Those who failed to sign up 20 voters per shift were terminated, the complaint said.

I sincerely hope that this group is found guilty and forced to disband and all those who are/were associated with them are also found guilty of voter fraud and are brought up on their own charges.

With that said – remember these videos?

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When will the corruption end!?  I love how this guy being interviewed tries to okay this.  This is just another example of the limousine liberals and the “X for me, but not for thee” philosophy.

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