The Wall Street Journal has partially solved the riddle of where Norman Hsu got the money he used to donate substantial sums to Hillary Clinton’s Senatorial and Presidential campaigns as well as numerous other Democratic candidates.
Joel Rosenman, the producer of the Woodstock rock concerts in 1969 and 1994 gave Hsu’s company an astonishing $40 million “investment” with which Mr. Hsu has apparently absconded: (WSJ Subscription required):
New documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal may help point to an answer: A company controlled by Mr. Hsu recently received $40 million from a Madison Avenue investment fund run by Joel Rosenman, who was one of the creators of the Woodstock rock festival in 1969. That money, Mr. Rosenman told investors this week, is missing.In a letter this Monday, Mr. Rosenman told investors that the 37 outstanding deals with Components Ltd. are set to mature “over the next four months.†But he indicated that was not likely. He said he had deposited two checks from Components that “matured Sept. 7.†He was informed by the banks that there were insufficient funds.
“This development, coupled with recent revelations,†he wrote, “led us to believe that payments due on our recent transactions with Components and Hsu may not be made.â€
Forty million dollars? This fellow Hsu must have a golden tongue with an uncanny knack of separating people from their money. And I think it is obvious we underestimated his abilities. Norman Hsu is not some run of the mill grifter. He is a superstar in the world of con men; a first class, top of the line, first team all American crook.
No word on exactly when Rosenman invested this money with Hsu but the Journal article mentioned it was “recently.” If so, that hardly explains the great bulk of donations Hsu has made to Democrats going back at least 3 years. How many others has Hsu bilked? And is his entire life one big Ponzi scheme where he scams mark after mark, using the proceeds from his most recent victims to pay off some of the past investors?
There is nothing “common” about this criminal. Which brings up several troubling questions that few seem to be asking at the moment:
Hillary Clinton’s campaign couldn’t explain yesterday why it blew off warnings about felon-turned-fund-raiser Norman Hsu – and the Daily News learned FBI agents are collecting e-mail evidence in the widening scandal.Clinton was forced Monday to give back a whopping $850,000 raised by convicted scam artist Hsu after learning his investment ventures were being probed by the FBI as a potential Ponzi scheme.
She earlier gave to charity $23,000 Hsu donated himself after reports revealed he fled sentencing for a $1 million scam in California in 1992.
Yesterday, the campaign insisted it did all it should to vet Hsu after California businessman Jack Cassidy warned in June that Hsu’s investment operation was fishy. Cassidy e-mailed his tips to the California Democratic Party, which forwarded them to the Clinton campaign.
We should also be asking questions about Mrs. Clinton’s security. How could the Secret Service let someone like Hsu within 50 yards of Hillary? Or were their objections overridden?
But the question the Justice Department is going to want answered is who in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign knew about the Cassidy warning and then failed to adequately vet Hsu’s shady dealings? Or, more troubling, discovered Hsu’s history and still took the money anyway.
Meanwhile, See Dubya at Hot Air has dug into Clinton’s donor list and pulled out several contributions from Rosenman’s family as well as others connected with his investment company:
Source Financing, Mr. Rosenman’s company, has asked the beneficiaries of Mr. Hsu’s largesse to quit giving it away to charity in order to recover it for their investors.
No word on whether Mr. Rosenman wants his own contributions to Hillary back, nor those of a Ned Rosenman who also works for Source Financing, nor those of a Molly Rosenman, also of Source Financing–each of whom gave her $4600 back in March.
Mr. Rosenman’s partner, a Mr. Yau Cheng also donated $4600 to Hillary. See Dubya asks whether all of these checks were part of a bundle delivered by Hsu to the Clinton campaign. In fact, there were 260 individual donors whose checks were bundled by Mr. Hsu. Malkin rightly calls on Hillary to come clean and cough up the list. She’s already returned $850,000. Why not make the names public?
Timing will be critical in this case. When did Hsu receive the $40 million? All the donations from Source Financing were made in March of this year. Was there some kind of understanding between Rosenman and Hsu about part of that $40 million when repaid offered as reimbursement to donors scared up by Source Financing? Was more of that $40 million earmarked for political donations to Democrats? How many operations like this exist to get around FEC regulations?
This could be the biggest election financing fraud in history, even surpassing the Nixon crimes committed during the 1972 election.
Some of the questions about the source of Norman Hsu’s largess spread around the country to Democratic candidates have been answered. But as in all scandals, each question answered raises additional problems. This is a very serious scandal for the Clinton campaign, one that could even sink her candidacy even if it doesn’t touch Hillary directly. And depending on how extensive the lawbreaking was, it may pull down the Democratic party a notch or two nationally.
9:01 am
Hillary Knew About Hsu In June, But Liberal Media Continues To Offer Excuses…
What irony, huh? That is, if you believe it:
Of all the possible vulnerabilities facing Senat…
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9:05 am
Hsu is tied to Rosenman, the “peace, love and high finance” guy?
The mindless sycophants on the left who were whipped into a frenzy over DeLay and Abramoff are going to be eating a lot of crow.
9:17 am
I just keep asking myself .. what was it about the Clintons that America was so weary about that Al Gore didn’t even want them to campaign for him back in 2000 ?
Now I remember .. it was everything.
9:37 am
Woodstock, Snoopy the Red Baron The Peanuts are all starting to fall into place and I’m sure there are nuts scattered all through the forest. Juicier and juicier indeed, Im still at around 15% and climbing on the amount of information so far unearthed, this hole is deep.
10:21 am
Clinton to Return Money Linked to Fund-Raiser…
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton?s campaign will return approximately $850,000 to donors who were tapp…
12:14 pm
Well, if balance and fairness mean anything to you, what about Bush taking $1.4 million from Enron? Anybody got a reason for your acceptance of this contribution, but are all worked up over Clinton’s? I guess it is ok if you are a republican, huh? I thought so…
12:20 pm
Tom:
Please do not comment here ever again. You only embarrass yourself and make this site look bad.
The contributions from Enron were nowhere near $1.5 and were legal. The Hsu contributions are not.
Duh.
1:54 pm
#6
Could be time to wean yourself off the anti-corporatist Kool-Aid, buddy.
Enron is a centerpiece of what’s right with our country, the generation of wealth by intelligent, creative and motivated people operating ethically within the free market, and the swift hand of justice striking down those whose overwhelming greed compels them to cheat the system.
3:29 am
Anybody know where Hillary’s brothers are these days? Maybe Hugh Rodham cooked this up.
7:00 am
The question I have, is who was Hsu fronting for? You don’t
give that kind of money, and not expect something in return.
I will bet there is a Red Chinese/PLA connection somewhere here.
6:37 pm
Didn’t Rosenman check Hsu’s background before “investing” $40M with Hsu?
6:38 pm
$40 million @#@#????
9:12 pm
“We should also be asking questions about Mrs. Clinton’s security. How could the Secret Service let someone like Hsu within 50 yards of Hillary? Or were their objections overridden?”
John Galt muses: Perhaps this is the same SECRET SERVICE that let Jeff Gannon stay overnight at the White House and gave him a press pass without checking his credentials? And how often was Bush ridden? I mean overridden?
John Galt further muses: I know who I am but who is Jeff Gannon?
11:21 am
Moran, you deleted my first post and you barred me from submitting more.
I did not use any profanity. I simply presented arguments you could not counter, expressed in writing that puts yours to shame.
You’re exactly the coward I thought you were.
11:28 am
Before you make your retort, Moran, I used a different email address for the first post and for the second attempt that you discarded.
You really are a coward.
11:28 am
OOOPS! Looks like you come out looking like the idiot you are, hey Billie Bob?
11:33 am
Dear Mr. Billie Bob Ignoramous:
It’s your IP address that would be banned – not your email address, dummy. And the fact that you can visit this website in the first place means you are not banned. If I were to ban you, you would get a message saying so.
And if you got such a message, it’s not from my end that you were banned because I haven’t banned anyone in months.