Posted on 10/11/2007 2:22:29 AM PDT by CutePuppy
Fine Wines, Sax Seized From Fundraiser
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Hsu is in jail in San Mateo County. He had been wanted in California for 15 years after he pleaded no contest in 1992 to grand theft charges in a fraudulent clothing import business, then fled before he was sentenced.
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So I would suspect the caption is from long ago....
It was unclear how Hsu acquired the saxophone. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Sen. Clinton's campaign, said Bill Clinton had signed many instruments that have been sold to benefit charities or party organizations.
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From the AP article linked at post #21....
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Hsu bought the saxophone at a charitable auction for $26,000 in October 2005, a representative of the American Red Cross told The Wall Street Journal. President Clinton, who attended the auction, signed the instrument, which was donated by saxophone maker E.M. Winston.
The Journal reported that Clinton owns an E.M. Winston saxophone, given to him by the company's president, the late David Ginott.
Hsu, 56, was once a valued supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, raising more than $1.2 million for her and other Democratic candidates in recent years.
If you use IE as a browser, “Properties” only show when the image was created on your machine / downloaded into IE cache, which would be the day you read the article. It has no relationship with the date the image itself was created. They are sometimes tagged with date within the web page HTML source, but this will not be shown by IE “Properties”.
You can easily check this by going to a web page you haven’t visited and get “Properties” of any obviously old archive photo or image - most likely, if it had not made your browser cache previously (recently), it would show the date you see it for the first time - “today”.
$5 million bond was in Colorado, this is in San Mateo, California, on 1991 charges. No bail, since he was a fugitive for over 15 years.
"Well, knock me over with a straw!"
From 9/15 -
Clinton's campaign insists that Hsu fell through the cracks of a faulty computer search (though reporters checking the same database found records of a bankruptcy filing, multiple lawsuits and links to possible criminal cases).
And her campaign chairman - Terry McAuliffe, known for his methodical courtship of big-money sources for Bill and Hillary - is pleading ignorance, telling The Washington Post, "I don't know how [Hsu] became involved."
Additional info from today’s WSJ :
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119213585603056422.html
Officials Detail Contents Of Hsu’s Seized Mementos
by IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN
October 12, 2007; Page A7
Among the items in Norman Hsu’s personal collection of Clinton memorabilia: CDs of presentations made by Hillary Clinton as well as an envelope of thank-you notes from the Democratic presidential front-runner.
Those items were on a list released yesterday of things seized from Mr. Hsu’s Manhattan apartment by federal agents, who last month charged the businessman with fraud.
The contents were revealed the day after the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said it found a saxophone signed by Bill Clinton and about 200 bottles of fine wine and Champagne. The Red Cross said Mr. Hsu purchased the instrument at auction for $26,000 at an event for the group attended by both men in October 2005.
The prosecutors’ inventory of seized items provided a glimpse into Mr. Hsu’s life. In September, the U.S. attorney in New York charged Mr. Hsu with running a Ponzi scheme that allegedly cost his investors $60 million. He was also charged with pressuring investors to donate to candidates, and reimbursing some, which is illegal. Mr. Hsu has said he didn’t reimburse people for donations. He is being held in California on a separate, 16-year-old grand-theft charge also involving an alleged Ponzi scheme.
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The new list includes a wide range of correspondence with politicians Mr. Hsu supported. On a bookshelf, agents found a letter from Rep. Doris Matsui, a Democrat from California. In June, Mr. Hsu hosted a luncheon for her in New York.
Authorities also discovered envelopes full of letters from politicians, sorted by year. One envelope was devoted to letters from New York Sen. Clinton, thanking Mr. Hsu, who was one of her biggest fund-raisers.
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Mr. Hsu had several CDs and a video of Mrs. Clinton giving presentations in New York. Another CD was entitled “Merle Haggard Hillary.” Mr. Haggard wrote a song for Sen. Clinton earlier this year, entitled, “Let’s Put a Woman in Charge.”
A folder in the apartment from Per Se restaurant in New York contained a thank-you letter to Mr. Hsu for hosting a dinner at the restaurant and a bill for the event. As previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Hsu hosted a 10-course dinner party at the restaurant overlooking Central Park for Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell in April 2006.
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Also discovered: an AT&T calling card in the name of Winkle Paw. Mr. Paw has listed Mr. Hsu’s businesses as his employer on federal election records. He and other members of the Paw family, who live in a house near San Francisco Airport, made political donations often on the same days and in the same amounts as Mr. Hsu, who once listed the Paws’ address as his.
I assume that's the very famous Penfolds Grange and not just one of Penfolds more plebeian Shiraz offerings; if so, it is certainly possible that the bottles are worth quite a bit.
Yes, I would think it’s Grange, with price range of $200-$400 per bottle, depending on vintage.
If you are buying it new or a newish vintage, yes, you can generally find it in that range. If you are buying older vintages, it can be very expensive. There's an article Grange fetches record price about an auction getting to AUD$50,000 for a bottle of the original 1951 vintage.
Here's a guideline to auction prices (all in Australian dollars) from the online auctioneer Langton for older Penfolds Grange:
Penfolds Grange Auction Wines
(all price estimates are in Australian dollars)
1951 – $40-50,000
The first experimental Grange, it is extremely rare. A valuable collector’s item because of its historic significance. Rare hand blown bottles. The wine itself is past its peak although some bottles still have fruit sweetness and flavour length. The wine has largely a dull, tawny colour and skeletal palate structure with little flesh and fading tannins.
100% Shiraz. Released as Bin 1. 50% Magill Estate, 50% Morphett Vale (Adelaide environs). A hot, very dry growing season. 160 cases/5 hogsheads made.
1952 – $15-22,000
Bin 4. First commercial vintage. Medium deep colour. Intense lifted dark chocolate aromas with some leather spice notes and meaty nuances. A hint of volatility. The palate is still well-concentrated with plenty of chocolate dark berry fruit flavours and fine supple tannins. Acidity slightly at the fore but still heaps of fruit sweetness. A fabulous bottle! Very rare.
100% Shiraz. 50% Magill Estate, 50% Morphett Vale. Average growing season with normal rainfall conditions. Around 100/150 cases made at less than $1 a bottle at release. Some half bottles were also released. Released also as Bin 4A.
1953 – $14-20,000
Bin 2. Medium deep brick red. Beautifully defined and complex mocha/lanolin/liquorice/aniseed aromas. Elegantly proportioned wine with concentrated toasty/mocha/cedar flavours and finely grained tannins finishing a touch grippy. A seriously lovely old wine. Still holding up brilliantly well. Very rare.
87% Shiraz, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and Kalimna Vineyard (Barossa Valley). 260 cases made. Some half bottles (375ml) were released. First vintage and from 1953 uninterrupted use of Kalimna fruit hence the term ‘mother vineyard’. Released also as Bins 10, 86C and 145.
1954 – $14-18,000
Bin 11. Medium deep brick red. Very evolved cashew nut/chocolate aromas and some aniseed nuances. Volatile Acidity (VA) pokes through. The palate is slightly dried out with herb garden/toasted nut fruit characters pronounced leafy tannins building up quite firm. Excellent concentration and flavour length. Very rare.
98% Shiraz, 2% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate and Kalimna Vineyard. Only nine months in oak. Cool to mild growing season followed by a mild to warm vintage. Released also as Bin 12.
1955 – $2,500-3,500
Bin 95. Medium deep brick red. Bright red cherry/black forest aromas with some coffee/leafy characters. An elegant, restrained, but well-balanced wine with concentrated redcurrant/red cherry fruit, some vellum/mocha characters and loose knit leafy tannins. Finishes firm with plenty of flavour length. Increasingly rare.
90% Shiraz, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale, Kalimna Vineyard and McLaren Vale blend. The most decorated Grange, a favourite of Max Schubert’s. Mild to warm growing conditions interrupted by above average rainfall. A warm dry vintage followed. Chosen by the US publication Wine Spectator as a ‘Wine of the Millennium’. Released also as Bins 13, 14, 53, 54 & 148A.
1956 – $14-18,000
Bin 14. Medium brick red. Complex over-developed rusty/leather/parchment/vellum aromas with some hints of dark chocolate. Medium concentrated wine with rusty/mocha/dark chocolate flavours, sweet lacy tannins which firm up towards the finish. Very rare.
96% Shiraz, 4% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and Kalimna Vineyard. Only nine months in oak. A cool mild growing season. Released also as Bin 53.
1957 – $15-20,000
Bin 50. Deep brick red. Sweet leather/tobacco aromas with some liquorice/toasted nuts nuances. Plenty of sweet fruit and VA lift. The palate is loose-knit with mature dark chocolate/ herb garden/tobacco/leather characters and supple but drying tannins. Strong acidity on the back palate. Fading. Very rare.
88% Shiraz, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and McLaren Vale. A so-called ‘hidden Grange’ because the wine was made without the knowledge of Penfolds management who had ordered Max Schubert to cease production. Matured in previous year’s Grange barrels. A mild dry growing season. Released also as Bin 113.
1958 – $14-19,000
Bin 46. Deep brick red. Over-developed baked plum/toffee aromas and touches of coffee/spice. Burnt coffee/baked fruit flavours, sinewy/leafy tannins and firm tight finish. Seen better days. Very rare.
94% Shiraz, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale, Kalimna Vineyard, Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. A ‘hidden Grange’. Mild to warm growing season. Released also as Bins 47, 49 &14.
1959 – $2,500-3,500
Bin 95. Deep brick red. Saline/dark cherry/chocolate aromas with some menthol/barnyardy nuances. The palate is rich and concentrated with dark cherry/barnyardy/liquorice fruit, fine brittle tannins, some malty oak characters, finishing quite firm and dry. Increasingly rare.
90% Shiraz, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and Kalimna Vineyard. Cool to mild growing season followed by a warm dry vintage. Released also as Bins 46 & 49.
1960 – $1,000-1,400
Bin 95. Medium brick red. Fresh perfumed toasty/smoky/redcurrant aromas with some meaty/apricot complexity. An elegant slinky palate with smoky/mocha/coffee flavours, fine lacy tannins, marvellous concentration and flavour length. Lovely wine. Increasingly rare.
92% Shiraz, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and Kalimna Vineyard. A hot dry growing season. Released also as Bin 49.
1961 – $1,100-1,500
Bin 95. Medium brick red. Complex and lifted leather/vellum/mocha aromas with some bitumen notes and underlying vanilla/malt complexity. Fresh leather/vellum/toasted nut flavours and fine tannins but fades towards the finish. Pronounced VA. Increasingly rare.
88% Shiraz, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Morphett Vale, Modbury Vineyard (Adelaide), Kalimna Vineyard and Coonawarra. A hot, dry growing season followed by hot vintage conditions. Released also as Bin 395.
1962 – $800-1,200
Bin 95. Deep red brick. Beautifully intense chocolate coffee/mocha aromas with some molasses/vellum/musky notes. The palate is rich and generous with coffee/mocha fruit flavours and toasty/malty nuances. The tannins are sweet and velvety but finish firm. An incredibly well balanced wine with superb fruit sweetness and flavour length. A classic Grange vintage. Increasingly rare.
87% Shiraz, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Kalimna Vineyard and Adelaide Hills. Barossa Valley fruit becomes an ascendant component. An ideal warm (fairly dry) growing season followed by a warm, dry vintage. Released also as Bins 59, 59A and 456.
1963 – $1,100-1,500
Bin 95. Deep brick red. Immensely complex and superbly balanced wine with perfumed dark chocolate/mocha/mineral/wetstone/ aromas and floral/camomile notes. A rich supple, fruit sweet palate with volumes of dark chocolate/mocha/demi-glace flavours and balanced by ripe textured lacy tannins. Lovely sweet-fruit with tremendous concentration and flavour length. A wonderful vintage. Increasingly rare.
100% Shiraz. Kalimna Vineyard, Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and Modbury Vineyard. A warm, dry growing season. Released also as Bin 65.
1964 – $700-1,000
Bin 95. Medium brick red. Coffee, vegetal undergrowth aromas with some liquorice/dark chocolate/aniseed nuances. Restrained but well concentrated wine with developed coffee/leafy/vegetal/earthy flavours and loose-knit tannins. Finishes chalky and dry. Loosing its fruit sweetness. An elegant style with a clean dry finish. Increasingly rare.
90% Shiraz, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Magill Estate, Kalimna Vineyard and Barossa Valley. A wet growing season followed by a fine cool vintage. Released also as Bins 395, 66, 67 and 68.
1965 – $700-1,000
Bin 95. Medium deep brick red. Intense menthol/leafy/briary/mushroom aromas and flavours. The palate is still rich and generous with fine slinky tannins finishing quite chalky and tight. Fruit is beginning to fade and acidity pokes out at the finish. Increasingly rare.
95% Shiraz, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Kalimna Vineyard, Barossa Valley, Magill Estate, Morphett Vale and McLaren Vale. Jimmy Watson Trophy Winner at the Melbourne Show. A warm dry growing season. Released also as Bins 69, 70 and 71.
“WHERE IS WINKLE PAW?”
Somebody needs to walk the rails from LA to Colorado...find his body and the Clinton’ s WILL be jailed!!
Sooooo...they found WINKLE PAW’s AT&T calling card but they haven’t found WINKLE??? RIP Winkle??? I hope not!
Yes, I thought Paw’s calling card in Hsu’s apartment was an interesting development. It fits well with the illegal campaign contributions scheme (where the money went to), but not with the Ponzi scheme (where the money supposedly came from) that is being pushed.
Thanks for info, I was not even aware of the Penfolds Grange much older vintages. I did presume more recent vintages, c. 1990s, which would be more likely in Hsu’s collection.
But just found this, apparently some more rare 90s vintages are getting up in price :
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:6BHMsGZYFlIJ:www.kilikanoon.com.au/kili/news/news.asp%3Farticle_id%3D90
New Grange record price
Friday, January 31, 2003 | News Category
Grange sets new record at auction
An imperial [6-liters / 8 regular bottles] of Penfolds Grange has achieved the highest price ever paid for a single bottle of Australian wine at auction.
The very first offering of the coveted 1998 vintage achieved double the auctioneer’s estimate at Langton’s Shiraz Australia II online wine auction on 20 January 2003, going for a record AUS $54,480 (€30,177).
Officials Detail Contents Of Hsu's Seized Mementos
Official Listing of Fed Seized Items (PDF-23 pgs)
Search Warrant (PDF-15pgs)
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The Smoking Gun: Feds say Hand Over The Sax, Hsu
- - Prosecutors want ex-Democratic moneyman to forfeit Clinton horn
December 4, 2007 - - Federal prosecutors want disgraced Democratic moneyman Norman Hsu--who was named today in a 15-count fraud indictment--to forfeit a "saxophone autographed by a former President of the United States." The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, does not name the former president, but Bill Clinton would seem a good bet considering Hsu's prior role as a chief fundraiser for Democratic presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton. The indictment, an excerpt of which you'll find below, notes that the valuable saxophone is located in a Soho apartment once occupied by the 56-year-old Hsu, who is alleged to have swindled $20 million from investors in a Ponzi scheme. Unless Hsu has more than one autographed saxophone, the instrument sought appears to be the one referred to in a recent Wall Street Journal story, which reported that Hsu once paid $26,000 at a Red Cross benefit for a Bill Clinton-signed horn. Government lawyers also want to seize "various bottles of wine and champagne" located in Hsu's Wooster Street home. (2 pages)
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Norman Hsu had Expensive Wine, Bill Clinton Sax
NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 2007 (UPI) -- More than 180 bottles of wine and a Bill Clinton-signed saxophone were seized from the New York apartment of fundraiser Norman Hsu, federal authorities said. Hsu -- who raised more than $1.2 million for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and other Democratic candidates over the past three years -- was keeping the pricey wine collection, the musical instrument and other expensive items at his apartment, The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The sax was believed to have been autographed by former President Clinton, the newspaper said.
The items were taken during a search following the disclosure that Hsu, a Hong Kong native, was wanted in connection with a 1991 theft case. He has been charged with leading a $60-million Ponzi scheme and violating election laws by paying associates to make donations in their names. Hsu's wine collection, which includes bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and vintage Cristal champagne, has been valued by wine experts at up to $100,000. "I wish I had this collection," said Robert Yetman, a wine-industry consultant and professor at the University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management. "It's a little showy, but nice."
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Clinton Shrine Seized From Norman Hsu's Apartment
10.11.07: Federal agents searching the Manhattan apartment of Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu this week seized a saxophone autographed by President Clinton, along with about 200 bottles of fine wine and Champagne. Mr. Hsu purchased the instrument at an auction for $26,000 in October 2005, according to a representative of the American Red Cross. The auction was held during the centennial celebration for the charity's New York chapter, where the former President Bill Clinton was honored. E.M. Winston, the maker of the saxophone, donated the instrument. And President Clinton, who attended the event, signed it. Mr. Clinton owns an E.M. Winston saxophone that was given to him by the late David Ginott, the company's president. The saxophone purchase was part of an embrace of the Clintons that acquaintances said Mr. Hsu liked to display. He had a collection of photos on exhibit in his apartment, as he rose quickly to become a top supporter of Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, ultimately raising more than $1 million.
Less than a week before the Red Cross event, several of Hsu's donors gave Hillary Clinton at least $17,700. The gala must've left Hsu in a generally charitable mood, because over the next few days, he bundled nearly $14,000 for Ted Kennedy and the DNC.
- - See list of donors in the article. Norman Hsu criminal co-conspirators the Paw Family (Daly City, CA) et. al. “Hsu straw donors” are on the list.
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10.11.07: Norman Hsu's Love of Wine and Clinton on Display | FR Thread
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11.12.07: Norman Hsu - How a Business Flop Became A Political Force
- - Hsu befriended Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats, decorating his SoHo loft with their photos. He displayed a saxophone autographed by former President Bill Clinton, bought for $26,000 at a Red Cross benefit. He sported a chocolate-brown leather bomber jacket with the presidential seal. "Bill Clinton gave this to me," Hsu stated.
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09.03.07: Bill Clinton shocked Hillary's donor Norman Hsu was a Fugitive - - President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and First Lady, now Senator Hillary Clinton have all been tied to illegal contributions and dealings with Chinese.
Posted for FlAttorney by TAB
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