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Hsu Seeks to Have California Case Dropped
Malaysia News via Yahoo ^ | 10/26/07 | PAUL ELIAS

Posted on 10/25/2007 4:03:56 PM PDT by Libloather

Hsu Seeks to Have Calif. Case Dropped
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer
AP - Friday, October 26

SAN FRANCISCO - Disgraced political donor Norman Hsu wasn't hiding from anyone over the past few years, his lawyers say. If California authorities really wanted to find him, they could have asked Hillary Rodham Clinton or one of the other prominent Democrats he showered with cash donations.

Hsu is asking a judge to toss his 15-year-old felony fraud conviction, arguing that his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him. They could easily have arrested Hsu, his lawyers argue, at one of the swank fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians including Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento.

"Mr. Hsu lived an open and public life and the government made no apparent efforts to arrest him," attorney James Brosnahan wrote in court papers filed last week. "He did not act like a fugitive. He did not evade the authorities, but rather openly associated with highly public officials."

State prosecutors filed their own documents Tuesday arguing that Hsu shouldn't benefit from his flight from justice, even if he was hiding in plain sight. That would "stand the criminal justice system on its head," deputy attorney general Ronald Smetana wrote.

Hsu's troubles began dogging Clinton and other big-name Democrats this summer when news reports revealed he was a fugitive who fled the state before he was sentenced for a 1992 fraud conviction. He turned himself in on Aug. 31 _ then fled again.

He was recaptured last month after he tried to kill himself by overdosing on drugs aboard an eastbound Amtrak train in Colorado. Hsu is being held without bail in a Redwood City jail.

In recent years, Hsu became a top political fundraiser, donating generously to Democratic candidates and causes and raising much more from other contributors. Since his fall from grace, many of those donations were given to charity or returned. The Clinton campaign pledged to divest $850,000 raised by Hsu.

On Nov. 2, Hsu's attorneys will ask a San Mateo County Superior Court judge to dismiss the fraud case, in which Hsu pleaded no contest to charges he bilked investors out of $1 million. He faces up to three years in prison.

If Brosnahan fails get the case dismissed outright, he says he will then ask that Hsu be allowed to withdraw his 1992 plea because the judge who accepted it and was scheduled to sentence Hsu before he fled has since retired. If Hsu succeeds in taking back his plea, his case goes back to square one and could then go to trial.

"Mr. Hsu has the right to have the same judge who accepted his plea impose sentence," Brosnahan wrote in court papers.

Smetana says investigators periodically checked Hsu's former apartment, his wife's home and his son's school in the years following his disappearance. But he concedes investigators stopped looking for him after they became convinced he had left the country for Asia.

Still, the arrest warrant remained active, Smetana argues, and he refused a court clerk's 1998 request to take it off the books.

Smetana also said previous California cases have allowed another judge to sentence criminals after the retirement of the judge who originally handled the case.

Even if Hsu manages to succeed in getting out from under the California charges, he still faces fresh federal felony charges in New York. He's charged there with operating two Ponzi schemes, in California and New York, that defrauded investors of a combined $60 million. He's also accused of pressuring investors to make campaign contributions, and giving others money to make donations.

He also faces two competing lawsuits filed by aggrieved investors who said Hsu duped them out of the $60 million federal officials accuse him of stealing. Federal investigators found little trace of that money when they seized Hsu's bank accounts and other assets last month.

The new set of allegedly jilted investors will also have a hard time getting any of the $2 million cash bail Hsu forfeited when he skipped a Sept. 5 court date in Redwood City. Hsu wants the money back, but prosecutors will ask the judge next week to put $2 million into a special account to reimburse victims of Hsu's 1990s scam.

Ronald Minkoff, a lawyer for a New York investment group suing Hsu for $40 million, said he's disappointed the campaigns didn't heed his call to place the tainted funds into a special account until an equitable distribution system could be set up.

"Federal regulations don't give the candidates a lot of options," said Minkoff, conceding that the candidates would have to get "creative" to get around election finance laws to set up the accounts he contemplated.

"There's nothing in the federal regulations that deals with the notion that someone would steal money and then give it to a political campaign," Minkoff said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: hillary; hsu; loot; perp
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Hsu Seeks to Have Calif. Case Dropped


"I'm deeply saddened..."

1 posted on 10/25/2007 4:03:58 PM PDT by Libloather
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To: Libloather

Ah, so !

If the Hsu don’t fit, you must acquit !!


2 posted on 10/25/2007 4:06:06 PM PDT by genefromjersey (So much to flame;so little time !)
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To: Libloather
Hsu has served his purpose. I'm sure there are hundreds more like him toiling away for the HRC fund raising machine.


3 posted on 10/25/2007 4:14:11 PM PDT by OCC
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To: Mr Apple; LucyT; doug from upland

I think we are about to find out how broken our system is.


4 posted on 10/25/2007 4:15:39 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: genefromjersey
Hsu is asking a judge to toss his 15-year-old felony fraud conviction, arguing that his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him.

Utter Rubbish, He had his trial and was CONVICTED AND SENTENCED

5 posted on 10/25/2007 4:17:23 PM PDT by Wil H (Turning $1000 into $100,000 through cattle futures requires the "willing suspension of disbelief")
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To: Calpernia

TOTALLY BROKEN except for DEMOCRATS.


6 posted on 10/25/2007 4:22:51 PM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her PHONINESS is REAL!!!)
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To: Libloather

Don’t be surprised if the Clinton Machine gets him off.


7 posted on 10/25/2007 4:36:57 PM PDT by RC2
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To: Libloather

8 posted on 10/25/2007 4:37:02 PM PDT by Gritty (The West has three potentially fatal bugs -- pacifism, self-hatred, and complacency - Richard Pipes)
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To: Libloather

That’s okay with hillary. She now has all the dishwashers in new yawk donating a thousand to 12 hundred for her campaign. Apparently they are immigrants. Go figure.


9 posted on 10/25/2007 4:37:22 PM PDT by mirkwood (Snowe and Collins need to go. Rinos)
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To: RC2
Don’t be surprised if the Clinton Machine gets him off.

Don't be surprised if the Clinton Machine KNOCKS him off.
10 posted on 10/25/2007 4:42:09 PM PDT by Sig Sauer P220
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To: Libloather
"Mr. Hsu lived an open and public life and the government made no apparent efforts to arrest him," attorney James Brosnahan wrote in court papers filed last week. "He did not act like a fugitive. He did not evade the authorities, but rather openly associated with highly public officials."

Now that's real Hsuchutzpah.

11 posted on 10/25/2007 4:44:44 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
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To: Calpernia; WestCoastGal; backhoe; Froufrou; penowa; justiceseeker93; The Spirit Of Allegiance; ...

Thanks Calpernia. Pinging everyone; look at the picture at # 8.


12 posted on 10/25/2007 5:03:34 PM PDT by LucyT
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To: Gritty

Good post.


13 posted on 10/25/2007 5:07:50 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Who would the terrorists vote for?)
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To: Libloather

Hsu is asking a judge to toss his 15-year-old felony fraud conviction

A Clinton friendly judge, no doubt.


14 posted on 10/25/2007 5:19:41 PM PDT by Bluebird Singing
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To: COUNTrecount
Hsu is asking a judge to toss his 15-year-old felony fraud conviction, arguing that his right to a speedy trial was violated because authorities weren't actively pursuing him.

Good luck making that argument Mr. Hsu. Probably get a good belly-laugh from the judge before he smacks your attorney down.

15 posted on 10/25/2007 5:34:31 PM PDT by Tallguy (Climate is what you plan for, weather is what you get.)
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To: Tallguy

BTTT


16 posted on 10/25/2007 5:42:32 PM PDT by Unicorn (Too many wimps around.)
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To: Libloather

Malaysia News on Yahoo?

They buried this one mighty deep..

Thought it was a crAPpleface piece at first


17 posted on 10/25/2007 6:59:18 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline —1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRGeT)
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To: Gritty

Her eyes really look bipolar.


18 posted on 10/25/2007 7:56:50 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: Libloather

‘Ronald Minkoff, a lawyer for a New York investment group suing Hsu for $40 million, said he’s disappointed the campaigns (H Clinton’s) didn’t heed his call to place the tainted funds into a special account until an equitable distribution system (More Chinese Cooks and Dishwashers) could be set up.’


19 posted on 10/25/2007 8:23:19 PM PDT by steveab (When was the last time someone tried to sell you a CO2 induced climate control system in your home?)
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To: Calpernia
"how broken our system is"

Yes, but only in regards to the democrats:

"...asked Hillary Rodham Clinton or one of the other prominent Democrats he showered with cash donations."

"...dogging Clinton and other big-name Democrats"

"...fundraisers he hosted in California for prominent local politicians including Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento."

"In recent years, Hsu became a top political fundraiser, donating generously to Democratic candidates..."

20 posted on 10/26/2007 6:01:00 AM PDT by Mr Apple
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