Donor, After Missing California Court Date, Is Found Ill on Train in Colorado
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: September 8, 2007
Norman Hsu, the Democratic fund-raiser whose 15-year fugitive odyssey began and ended with skipped court dates and cut a trail of fraud, tainted donations and blindsided candidates, seemed to be at the end of his rope yesterday, hospitalized under guard in Colorado after his latest vanishing act failed
Mr. Hsu, a 56-year-old Hong Kong businessman born Yung Yuen Hsu, who raised large sums for presidential races and many major political figures, who reveled in circles of power and even became a university trustee (with a scholarship in his name) — all while on the run from a three-year prison term — was at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction after being taken ill off a Denver-bound Amtrak train on Thursday, federal officials said.
In federal custody and under guard by Mesa County sheriff’s deputies, Mr. Hsu, who was listed in fair condition with an unspecified ailment, faced new charges and extradition to California. He was to have appeared in court there on Wednesday to surrender his passport and seek a reduction in $2 million bail he posted last week when he turned himself in for running away from a 1992 felony sentencing.
After he failed to show up at Wednesday’s hearing, a new warrant was issued. Federal officials said Mr. Hsu had arrived at Oakland International Airport on a charter flight from New York. But instead of heading for the hearing in San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City, south of San Francisco, he boarded an eastbound Amtrak train in Emeryville, near Oakland, the officials said.
He had his passport and a berth in a sleeper, but his trip was cut short when he fell ill. Amtrak notified the authorities, an ambulance met the train at Grand Junction and federal agents arrested Mr. Hsu at the hospital, ending what had become an embarrassment for law enforcement as well as for politicians he aided.
There was no comment from many Democrats whose campaign coffers had been enhanced by Mr. Hsu — Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, and others, who have said they would give the money he donated to charities. Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, who had called Mr. Hsu “one of the best 10 people I’ve met,” said yesterday that he was “disappointed,” and would give the $38,000 he had received to charity.
Other friends who have recently seen Mr. Hsu described him yesterday as a broken man. “He was extraordinarily distraught,” said one who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for Mr. Hsu. “He said he had not been hiding out, but had been leading a life that was highly visible.” Another friend said Mr. Hsu was “in bad shape,” adding: “It was obvious he was under stress and strain. At some point, he seemed to be confused.”
Mr. Hsu’s lawyer in San Francisco, James J. Brosnahan, said that “in the last 36 hours, a great many friends of Norman Hsu have expressed concern about his mental health and well-being.” He added: “The strain he has been under during the last week has been enormous, and perhaps unbearable. We will be getting him the best medical care available.”
Details of the latest accusations were sealed by the court. But the tale of his double life as a businessman-donor and as a fugitive has emerged in outline in recent days. It all began, according to the California Department of Justice, with latex gloves that did not exist.
Mr. Hsu, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and came to the United States at 18 to attend the University of California, Berkeley, started several sportswear companies in the 1980’s, but his career hit a low in 1989 when he began raising cash from investors in a plan to buy and sell latex gloves.
In 1991, he was charged with stealing $1 million from 20 investors in what the California authorities called a Ponzi scheme. In February 1992, he pleaded no contest to one count of grand larceny in an agreement that called for three years in prison. But he failed to appear for sentencing on June 10, 1992.
Investigators believe he fled to Hong Kong and worked in the garment trade. At some point, Mr. Hsu, a naturalized American, returned to New York and in 2003 made the first of some $600,000 in contributions to federal, state and municipal campaigns. He also gave about $100,000 to the New School in New York, and became a board member with a scholarship in his name. He has since cut his ties to the university.
While Mr. Hsu made no secret of his political, university and business associations, he also listed nonexistent businesses and addresses that were mail drops. So questions about the source of his money and his rise in influential circles remained when news of his past began to emerge last month. On Aug. 31, he surrendered in California on the fugitive warrant in the 1992 case, posted $2 million in bail and was ordered to appear again last Wednesday. That was the hearing he skipped.
Reporting was contributed by Nancy Lofholm, Carolyn Marshall and Leslie Wayne. |
