Hsu Attorney Says His Client
Will Get 'Best' Medical Care
By JIM CARLTON and GARY FIELDS
September 7, 2007 5:40 p.m.
An attorney for fugitive financier Norman Hsu said the one-time Democratic fundraiser would be getting "the best" medical care after an undisclosed ailment that resulted in his being carried by ambulance to a hospital in Colorado after being taken sick while riding an Amtrak train east from California.
Mr. Hsu was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation yesterday after his status as a fugitive from a grand-theft charge in San Mateo County, Calif., became known when he was being treated at the St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo. Mr. Hsu was to be extradited to San Mateo County after he is discharged from the hospital.
"In the last 36 hours a great many friends of Norman Hsu have expressed concern about his mental health and physical well-being," James Brosnahan, a San Francisco attorney for Mr. Hsu, said in a statement. "We are very pleased and relieved that he is now being cared for... The strain he has been under during the last week has been enormous and, perhaps, unbearable."
Mr. Brosnahan added that Mr. Hsu's pending legal matter in San Mateo County would be handled "in its proper course."
Mr. Hsu had pleaded no contest in 1991 to grand-theft charges stemming from an investment fraud scheme but he disappeared before sentencing. He remained a fugitive until late last month after The Wall Street Journal wrote a story about his contributions to Democratic candidates. A subsequent article by the Los Angeles Times identified him as a fugitive.
A St. Mary's Hospital spokeswoman said Hsu is listed in fair condition but would not comment on the nature of his illness. Mr. Hsu turned himself into San Mateo County, Calif., sheriff's authorities on Aug. 31 and was released on $2 million bail, but became a fugitive once again when he failed to appear at a bond-reduction hearing in Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday. Authorities there feared that Mr. Hsu, who had not surrendered his passport, might have left the country.
FBI agents are awaiting Mr. Hsu's release from the hospital before moving to extradite him back to California. According to California Deputy Attorney General Ralph Sivilla, Mr. Hsu would likely first have to appear before a federal magistrate in Colorado on federal charges of unlawful flight that were filed against him when he failed to show for his hearing in San Mateo County last week. Then FBI agents would transport him to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where sheriff's deputies from San Mateo County will take him into custody and return him to their jail in Redwood City, Mr. Sivilla said. Mr. Hsu then would have to appear in San Mateo County Superior Court again -- this time, Mr. Sivilla said, with the state's request that he be denied bail.
Leslie Kopper, spokeswoman for the FBI's Denver office, said Mr. Hsu will be extradited to California and turned over to state authorities, and the federal charge will be dropped. Mr. Sivilla said additional state charges could be filed against Mr. Hsu, including felony failure to appear, but he added no decision has been made on whether his office would take action.
The California attorney general's office had asked the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco to issue a federal warrant, and the FBI was called in to help locate Mr. Hsu.
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com and Gary Fields at gary.fields@wsj.com |
