Running Down The Hsu

Running down the road
Make my get away
Everything I told you
was just yesterday
Yes, You know I'm off again
Oh, and I've been told
You were there beside me
Running down the road
(Arlo Guthrie, Running Down the Road)

It seems that nobody in the press can get answers about Norman Hsu at the moment. The deeper they dig, the more mysterious the international man of mystery becomes. The Wall Street Journal is digging like mad, but they are not getting any real answers, just more questions. What makes Norman Hsu run - and just where does he get all that money? He has left a trail of failed businesses and destitute investors behind him for decades now - and yet he has lived a lavish, if nomadic, lifestyle. Strings of what appear to be phony addresses and gobs of ready cash whenever he needs it.

Mr. Hsu was practically destitute, according to bankruptcy documents. He owed $1.64 million to a long list of people, including his father-in-law, who had lent him money. The documents said he was renting a home for $1,750 a month in Foster City and spending $75 a month for clothes.

Mr. Hsu vanished just before his scheduled sentencing in 1992. He soon began building new businesses, this time in Hong Kong.

One, a clothing company called Newton Enterprises Ltd., opened in September 1992, according to Hong Kong business records. Documents link Mr. Hsu to another Hong Kong company about that time as well. Both had vague incorporation papers that suggested they could be used for anything from financial advisory services to travel agencies to garment manufacture.

In registrations for Newton and the other firm, Mr. Hsu listed his address as on the 39th floor of Convention Plaza, which is a luxurious place in the heart of Hong Kong with views of Victoria Harbor. Eng Boo Cheh, a Singaporean garment industry executive who helped set up Newton with Mr. Hsu, recalls Mr. Hsu frequenting a nightclub at the Grand Hyatt near there. "He'd call and say, 'Come have a drink,' " Mr. Eng says. "He befriended a lot of people there."

But his star also fell in Hong Kong. Both companies were dissolved in 1997 and 1998. The Hong Kong courts declared Mr. Hsu bankrupt in the summer of 1998.

Mr. Hsu soon returned to California, creating another chain of addresses near San Francisco and Los Angeles. Real-estate brokers in the area say that he actively invested in properties in the Bay area. He continued dabbling in the apparel industry as well.

A few years ago, Mr. Hsu's activity in the Bay Area tapered off. And he appeared to move to New York. And he emerged in another circle — political fund-raising in New York.

Just how or why he got involved in politics is unclear. In 2004, Mr. Hsu donated $2,000, the most then allowed, to the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

As his involvement in Democratic party fund raising escalated, his financial dealings became even murkier. Hsu has a lot of questions to answer and the Federal authorities are very interested. The continued media glare on this is a direct result of how stinky this particular story is. This is one the media will follow regardless of politics. That likely has a lot of Democrats nervous at the moment. Where does he get all that lovely cash?