Holding On To Hsu
Norman Hsu has been jailed without bail after being returned to California. And in a case of legal chutzpah, his attorney asked for the $2 million bail money he skipped out on back from the court.
Hsu appeared briefly in San Mateo Superior Court on a 15-year-old grand theft conviction, one day after federal authorities charged him in New York with bilking investors out of $60 million. Investigators say he donated some of that money to numerous Democratic candidates and causes over the past several years.
Hsu did not speak while his attorney asked a judge to return the $2 million Hsu had posted as bail before skipping a court date earlier this month. The judge told attorney Jim Brosnahan to file formal court papers and scheduled Hsu's next court appearance for Sept. 28.
Deputy Attorney General Ron Smetana said prosecutors would oppose the return of the money.
"If the federal charges are correct, then the money is stolen," Smetana said outside court. "It would be inappropriate to return it to Mr. Hsu."
This is almost descending into farce at this point. Hsu's lawyer is also contesting the confession the FBI obtained about the scams he had been running.
After a week in the hospital, he was transferred to jail where, according to a federal complaint unsealed Thursday, he summoned FBI agents and confessed to another, grander Ponzi scheme than the $1 million caper he pulled off in California 15 years before.
According to the complaint, he admitted taking $60 million from investors to fund "phony" companies and used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle and considerable campaign contributions. The complaint alleged that Hsu had written about $40 million worth of checks on an account that contained only about $83,000.
Brosnahan attacked that confession Friday because it came while he "was still under the influence of the pills he was taking." It was also given without a lawyer present, he said.
"It is a legal scandal," Brosnahan said.
Well, there should be no shortage of witnesses, there were lots of people fleeced, apparently.
By Bill Franklin, Sunday, 23 September , 2007 @ 11:38 am
I love how the liberal media is covering up this story - No front page coverage at all. Meanwhile all over the front page we find out that the FBI has been taping Republican Senator Ted Steven’s phone conversations as part of a year long investigation into taking money for favors. That liberal media, they just hate Republicans and love Democrats.