More tidbits of information are being gathered by an aroused press corps about former fugitive Democratic financier Norman Hsu that would seem to suggest some rather strange and significant connections in his past.
This Los Angeles Times piece provides the shockers of the day:
The most obvious red flag: A check of a commonly used database produces a 1990 San Francisco Chronicle news story detailing how Norman Hsu had been kidnapped by gang members in the San Mateo County suburb of Foster City. A second widely used database discloses that Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu of Foster City had a bankruptcy in 1990.Having established that he lived in San Mateo County, a check of the San Mateo County Superior Court’s website reveals that Norman Yuan Yuen Hsu had a criminal case.
“Kidnapped by gang members…?” And he lived to tell the tale? What kind of gang? The Wall Street Journal fills in the details:
In 1990, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a group of Chinatown gang leaders had been arrested for kidnapping Mr. Hsu. The article said the alleged kidnappers were stopped after speeding through a red light, and Mr. Hsu took the opportunity to tell police he was being kidnapped. The article said he owned a restaurant and clothing businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Some of the Chinatown Triads have ties to legitimate Chinese businesses like the state owned China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) which has a history with the People’s Liberation Army. COSCO has subsidiaries all over northern California and has been allegedly involved in smuggling arms to gangs here in the US.
I bring up COSCO because as an importer, Hsu would have been familiar with such a large shipping concern and may have even done business with them.
No doubt Hsu was extremely lucky if he really was being kidnapped. We can only speculate on the reason for his kidnapping but it could have had something to do with a refusal to pay “protection” or even a failure to hire a gang member to work at one of his businesses.
Or, Hsu himself could have been a member of a rival triad.
And the fact that Hsu claimed bankruptcy in 1990 and then emerges 2 years later as Managing Director of Newton Enterprises Ltd in Hong Kong is also rather amazing. As is the news that he evidently never made restitution to the investors he swindled:
In a separate matter, Mr. Hsu turned himself in at State Superior Court in California, where he faced three years in jail before vanishing in the early 1990s. Mr. Hsu had raised more than $1 million from investors to import latex gloves from Asia and resell them for a profit, according to Ronald Smetana, the deputy California attorney general who handled the case.James Brosnahan, an attorney for Mr. Hsu, released a statement saying his client “has pledged to deal forthrightly with this 15-year-old legal issue” and “is having preliminary productive discussions with the Attorney General’s office.” He added that Mr. Hsu “is hopeful that the matter will be resolved shortly to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Mr. Brosnahan said the $2 million bail “can also be used for restitution to any persons who might still be unpaid.”
According to the article, there are at least a few investors swindled by Mr. Hsu who didn’t receive restitution. Along with his 1990 bankruptcy, one of the legitimate questions being asked by the Justice Department in their probe into Mr. Hsu’s activities must be where did he get the money? One would think that his assets were frozen as a result of the verdict in his criminal trial. Judging by the property he has owned in New York City since his return from Hong Kong, his fortune must be considerable. And while there is no doubt the “Managing Director” of an import company might receive a considerable salary, it is unlikely that it would have been enough to allow for the multi-million dollar property deals he cut upon his return to New York City.
For once, the smell of a good story has overridden the reluctance of the press to cover a Democratic party scandal. We’ll see how far they go when more information about Mr. Hsu is discovered.
UPDATE
Just noticed something strange in that Wall Street Journal account of Hsu’s kidnapping. The report from the San Francisco Chronicle apparently mentions “gang leaders” in the car that supposedly kidnapped Mr. Hsu.
Why would the leaders of gangs be cooperating in a kidnapping of some nobody? More bizarre yet, why would gang leaders be doing their own dirty work? One would think that the leaders of gangs would avoid taking on such tasks for the very reason they made the paper; the chance of getting caught.
This raises the possibility that Hsu was not being kidnapped at all but was being escorted to a gathering of some kind involving all of the Chinatown gangs. Could Hsu himself be one of those “gang leaders?”
Just asking…
10:52 am
Who was the judge who allowed the felon to make bail? What is to prevent him from getting on a plane to Beijing and blowing off the $2,000,000.00 check he just wrote. So what if he is out $2 mil? That seems to be not much more than the money he has been funneling into the DNC and Democrat politicians.
He has already proven he is a flight risk. Can someone please explain the thinking in letting him make bail? Was the judge really so stupid as to think this was an amount that he could not possible make after all he’s dumped into the DNC?
11:19 am
Interesting Rick, without mincing any words, this scumbag has dirty rotten scoundrel written alllllll over him. Nice site by the way.Have a terrific Labor day weekend, ya goin fishin?
11:29 am
opps , ok I need to get it together. sorry.
11:45 am
Hey Rick do you know if these gang leaders were arrested and prosecuted on kidnapping charges or just given a moving violation? I as well as you I presume think this kidnapping business is a bunch of malarky.
11:47 am
All we have at the moment is the blurb in the WSJ about the arrest of gang leaders.
Surprised there’s no follow up yet.
11:47 am
Thanks,
11:49 am
This is one police report I’d like to see, if one exists.
11:58 am
Just emailed the WSJ reporters to see if they had any more info. Hope they get back to me soon.
12:09 pm
I just read you have 9 brothers and sisters, my father had 9 also. The family reunion part was funny…. ours can get dangerous…lol.. if you get more info please give a shout-out someplace…. best…aj
3:09 pm
And what about the judge, Rick? Who is the judge that allowed Hsu to write a check and walk?
Want to take a guess the first stop the black Suburban made? I pick….................LAX.
3:50 pm
Dont focus too much on this issue. It seems said “kidnapping” was done by investors defrauded by Hsu. In fact Hsu later showed his ex gf a scar given to him by his investors for bilking them out of money.
7:18 pm
If the plot thickens much more, this will have to be at least a made for TV movie.
7:18 am
We ain’t gonna hear too much about this from the msm cuz hillary might get tarnished.
10:46 am
It looks like were going to have to wait until after this long weekend before getting any new info. This story is getting juicier and I feel soon more little truths will unfold that could/will be damaging to the wicked witch.
7:03 am
I feel like a seven year old at Christmas Eve. Maybe someone doesnt want the fit to hit the shan on this story.
11:52 am
Rick if you’re listening I just heard a report on FOX that the scumbag Hsu didnt make his bail hearing this morning never turned over his passport and his attorney’s dont know where he is…. what a shocker
!! lol