Hsu Got To Be Kidding
Let's see, you have a guy who was a fugitive from justice for 15 years. The same guy just jumped - and forfeited - a $2 million cash bail. There are indications that the man may have misappropriate at least $40 million from an investment firm. And there are new allegations that another scam may have bilked more than $30 million more out of investors. So what to you do if you're the judge hearing the case?
Grant bail again - for $5 million this time. Despite the fact that the suspect had a checkbook showing a $6 million balance.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., Sept. 13 — A judge ordered a cash bond of $5 million for Norman Hsu, the shadowy Democratic fund-raiser, after Colorado authorities told the court here that Mr. Hsu might have been involved in another multimillion-dollar fraud investigation involving dozens of investors in Orange County, Calif.
The revelation that Mr. Hsu, a fugitive for 15 years in a California fraud case, might be implicated in another fraud investigation came after New York investors learned this week that $40 million they had invested with Mr. Hsu might be in jeopardy.
Mr. Hsu’s lawyer, Eric Elliff, said Mr. Hsu was willing to waive extradition and would probably be taken to California after a hearing here on Sept. 19.
Appearing via television from the Mesa County Jail, Mr. Hsu looked haggard, his gaunt frame draped in a yellow jail uniform and his head twitching as lawyers debated his bond and a recent letter in which Mr. Hsu had suggested that he might harm himself.
“That’s a lot of cash for anyone to come up with,” Mr. Elliff said of the bond. “He’s anxious to return to California to faces the charges against him.”
The Rocky Mountain News merely reports on this. No outrage. The Denver Post manages some degree of outrage - but only by pointing out the huge amount of money Hsu may have defrauded people out of.
Grand Junction - Disgraced Democratic donor Yung Yuen "Norman" Hsu looked jittery as he made a video appearance from the Mesa County Jail on Thursday while a judge set his bail at $5 million and scheduled an extradition hearing for next week.
Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger asked for $50 million bail, citing new allegations that Hsu has defrauded investors of more than $70 million in recent years. Hautzinger also pointed out that Hsu had a checkbook showing a $6 million balance when he was arrested in Grand Junction on Sept. 6.
But the attorney representing Hsu in the bail hearing, Eric Elliff of Denver, called the requested amount "ridiculous."
He said after the hearing that he doesn't know if Hsu, 56, can come up with the $5 million.
Elliff also said Hsu is not a flight risk because his illnesses make him "incapable of traveling far."
Can't come up with it? That amount is, quite literally, pocket money for Hsu. This man has access to a ridiculous amount of liquid cash - more than any legitimate business person keeps on hand, frankly.
UPDATE: Others Hsuitably outraged: Hot Air, The Belmont Club, Suitably Flip, Captain's Quarters, Fausta, Jammie Wearing Fool, Redstate, American Pundit, 186k Per Second,
By Gayle Miller, Friday, 14 September , 2007 @ 1:09 pm
Sounds to me like the fix is in! Given his “friends”, he probably hasn’t got a lengthy anticipated lifespan anyway.
By Gaius, Friday, 14 September , 2007 @ 1:12 pm
I think he’s safer in jail.