Hsu Swindled Investors of $60M: Feds

'Ponzi scheme' bizman sought to be part of celeb campaign circuit
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 21, 2007 3:19 AM CDT
Hsu Swindled Investors of $60M: Feds
Norman Hsu, right, prepares to surrender as he arrives with spokesman Jason Booth, center, and attorney Somnath Raj Chatterjee, left, at a San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, Calif., in this Aug. 31, 2007, file photo. Now in disgrace, Hsu's role as a top money bundler for Hillary Rodham...   (Associated Press)

Businessman Norman Hsu swindled $60 million from investors across the country and made illegal campaign contributions to Hillary Clinton and others, federal prosecutors say. In a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan yesterday, the feds say Hsu broke US election law by reimbursing some of the political donors who participated in his Ponzi scheme, the Washington Post reports.

Hsu's primary motivation was greed, but he also wanted to buy his way onto the "celebrity campaign circuit," prosecutors charge. Hsu allegedly pressured investors into making campaign contributions, and he passed on $850,000 to Clinton and smaller amounts to other Democratic candidates. Hsu has not responded to the allegations. (More Norman Hsu stories.)

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