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As the race for the White House moved into its final weeks in 1996, Republicans were accusing the campaign of Bill Clinton and Al Gore of unethical fundraising tactics, including Gore's attendance at a fundraiser at a tax-exempt Buddhist temple in California. Now, as Hillary Rodham Clinton seeks the White House, the indictment yesterday of a former chief fundraiser, Norman Hsu, may see her confront potentially harmful fundraising questions of her own. "Will this help? Of course not," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Polling Institute at Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Conn. "You accumulate enough hurts and you have a...

NEW YORK -- Norman Hsu, a Democratic fundraiser and supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, was indicted Tuesday for allegedly orchestrating a massive $60 million fraud scheme and making illegal campaign contributions. Federal prosecutors in New York said as part of the scam, Hsu personally stole $20 million from investors. Hsu, 56, is currently in custody in California on unrelated fraud charges. The FBI says from 2000 through 2007, Hsu duped investors to invest millions in his Next Components Inc. Hsu then allegedly pressured investors to make campaign contributions, saying those donations would help him in securing business. In some cases,...

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Norman Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to political campaigns. In the 15-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government accused the 56-year-old clothing-industry entrepreneur of duping investors nationwide with a massive Ponzi scheme. The government said Hsu also violated federal campaign finance laws by making contributions to various political candidates in the names of others.

NEW YORK — A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Norman Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to political campaigns.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Norman Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to political campaigns. In the 15-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government accused the 56-year-old clothing-industry entrepreneur of duping investors nationwide with a massive Ponzi scheme. The government said Hsu also violated federal campaign finance laws by making contributions to various political candidates in the names of others.

SAN JOSE A Silicon Valley businessman was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for helping broker a deal to sell a military-grade night vision camera to China, federal prosecutors said. Philip Cheng, 60, pleaded guilty in October of last year to violating a U.S. law forbidding the export of certain military items to China. He had faced up to 10 years in prison. Cheng was scheduled to begin serving the prison sentence on Feb. 12, 2008, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco. He also was ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. Cheng was originally charged in...

Documents show how the fundraiser's network pitched the deals that allegedly turned his Clinton ties into gold. Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu reveled in his role as friend to Bill and Hillary Clinton. As Hsu raised more than $800,000 for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign, the couple praised him at star-studded events and showered him with thank-you notes. Hsu often wore a bomber jacket that bore the presidential seal, a gift from the former president, he told associates. But Hsu's turn in the political limelight was about more than ego gratification. Documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times show how...

A nude woman fleeing a groping impostor? Lying about academic credentials in court? Owning a controlling interest in a Texas law firm without having a license to practice law? In these days of Norman Hsu and the Fujian fundraising scandals, this case may only qualify as a minor embarrassment to Hillary Clinton and Texas Democrats. Mauricio Celis got indicted on a slew of charges yesterday as I left Corpus Christi, and the fundraiser may join Hsu in the rogues' gallery for the 2008 cycle: A major contributor to Democratic causes and political races was indicted Friday on charges of falsely...

A major contributor to Democratic causes and political races was indicted Friday on charges of falsely holding himself out as a lawyer and impersonating a public servant. Mauricio Celis, a Corpus Christi businessman, has a controlling interest in the CGT Law Group of Corpus Christi even though he is not an attorney. Now, he's being accused of practicing law without a license. Texas law prohibits anyone from owning a controlling interest in a law firm unless he is a licensed lawyer. Celis has contributed thousands to state and federal candidates, including the presidential campaign of Sen. Hilary Clinton.

CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne Malveaux... Developing.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) recently appeared before the Human Rights Campaign to present a keynote speech on her support of the homosexual/bisexual/transgender agenda and her efforts to defeat any attempts by Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that will ban same-sex marriage. HRC President Joe Solomese introduced Clinton and revealed their long-term relationship in fighting against the pro-family movement. Solomese describes numerous meetings with Clinton as they strategized togethor about how to defeat any constitutional amendment on marriage... ... Clinton told her homosexual activist audience that they will have a close "partnership ... when I am President." Watch her comments...

Hsu Wowed the Democrats As He Beguiled Investors; 'He Craved Attention' November 12, 2007; Page A1 By the time Norman Hsu flew to Beverly Hills in early September and checked into the Raffles L'Ermitage hotel, the life of the top Democratic donor and self-professed clothing magnate was coming unraveled. Mr. Hsu, a slight, 56-year-old immigrant from Hong Kong, was under investigation for campaign-finance violations. An old grand-theft charge had come back to haunt him. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other politicians had begun returning his donations. He was so distraught that he sent off suicide notes before leaving his Manhattan...

Ambinder: Obama campaign "helping to place" Hsu storyNovember 8, 2007 BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief WASHINGTON, D.C. — Barack Obama’s presidential campaign “scored a significant hit” against chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton “by helping to place” a story about tainted Democratic donor Norman Hsu, according to an article about Obama in the December issue of The Atlantic. The story, titled “Teacher and Apprentice” by associate editor Marc Ambinder, describes how Obama campaign staffers were “frustrated” because the press was not covering Clinton “in the way they expected it would.” “…And at a campaign event in Iowa, one of...

Muslim donors targets of federal investigation: Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has taken thousands of dollars in cash donations from Islamists under federal investigation for terror-financing, money laundering and tax fraud, WND has learned.

<p>Last June, Hillary Clinton's campaign gave back $7,000 to Chinese restaurant workers who contributed $1,000 apiece for a political fundraiser.</p>

REDWOOD CITY - Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu's effort to have his grand theft case from the early 1990s thrown out was delayed today at his attorneys' request. Defense attorney James Brosnahan did not say why he had sought the delay after meeting with the prosecutor and a San Mateo County Superior Court judge. Attorneys on both sides deflected questions about whether they were negotiating a plea that would cover both Hsu's San Mateo County case and criminal charges filed in federal court in New York in September. "There's more to be done. That's all," Brosnahan said as he left...

FED ALERT: Prosecutors questioned Hsiao Yen Wang about a shadowy-seeming Chinatown fund-raiser reported on by The Post. The feds are eyeing a Chinatown donor to Clinton's presidential campaign to see if she was "coerced" into being a front for someone else's contribution.--SNIP--The LA Times reported on the April 9 fund-raiser, which netted about $380,000 - some from donors of meager means..... following stories about Clinton fund-raiser Norman Hsu, who has been charged with campaign-finance and other violations.

<p>GOP Bloggers' Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan posted their FEC complaint against the Hillary Clinton for President Committee in response to the reports of donors who felt pressure to give money for fear for retribution and a number of poor donors who donated thousands of dollars each to her campaign.</p>

Clinton's fundraiser raises questions By ADAM GOLDMAN and JAMES KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writers 19 minutes ago NEW YORK - On the wall of Hsiao Yen Wang's apartment, a cramped, 17th-floor public housing unit on the city's Lower East Side, are photographs of her husband, David Guo, a cook who specializes in Fujian cuisine. One photo stands out: Guo shaking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's hand, a memento from a $1,000-a-person fundraiser for the New York senator held in New York's Chinatown last April. Last week, Wang got another memento — a calling card from a Justice Department criminal investigator. The investigator...