A Norman Hsu update: The former Hillary fund-raiser and Democrat bundler extraordinaire pleads guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, and guilty to 10 counts of wire and mail fraud. Via AP with a h/t to Don Surber:

Former top Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to charges he cheated investors out of at least $20 million in a massive Ponzi scheme. The 58-year-old Hsu pleaded guilty to 10 counts of wire and mail fraud before U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero.

“I knew what I was doing was illegal,” Hsu told the judge.

His lawyer, Alan Seidler, said outside court afterwards that his client was likely to testify on his own behalf at a trial on four counts of violating federal campaign-finance laws. Hsu is accused of violating those laws by making hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions to more than 50 politicians.

“He’s like a groupie. He just likes the political process,” Seidler said, adding that Hsu was adamant that he never made a political contribution expecting something in return. Prosecutors said he made contributions to political candidates in the names of others.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Lemire told Marrero that the government will seek to prove that Hsu made political donations “to fuel” the Ponzi scheme and pressured victims of his fraud to contribute to political candidates.

…Seidler said Hsu considered Hillary Rodham Clinton his biggest prize among political candidates. “That was his star,” Seidler said of Clinton, who returned more than $800,000 to donors whose contributions were linked to Hsu. Hsu was accused of raising more than $1.2 million for Clinton and other Democratic candidates. His donations became an embarrassment for Clinton’s presidential campaign.

The number four recipient of Hsu money was Barack Obama.

Flip Pidot, who did invaluable investigative work on Hsu’s funny money, has more here.

See-Dubya at Junkyard Blog spotlights a Democrat/Hillary Donor accused of cross-border money laundering.

They grow like weeds in Hillary’s garden.

More details and background at Captain’s Quarters and Patterico.

A judge on Friday sentenced disgraced political donor Norman Hsu to three years in state prison after rejecting the one-time Democratic rainmaker’s bid to throw out a 16-year-old fraud conviction.

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted Norman Hsu, a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money to make illegal donations to political campaigns.

In the 15-count indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government accused the 56-year-old clothing-industry entrepreneur of duping investors nationwide with a massive Ponzi scheme.

The Hillary Clinton campaign was too busy digging through Barack Obama’s homework to respond.

***

More: Here’s the indictment (PDF).

Excerpts:

The campaign finance fraud counts:

And a demand that Hsu forfeit several items, including a sax from Billy Boy and some bottles of wine…

Four large American flags came crashing in front of Senator Clinton as she headed for the door. In a controlled panic, the staffers and the Senator attempted to catch the flags before they fell to the ground.

“I think the bases are not weighted enough.” Clinton said as she propped flags back up.

***
In case you were unplugged this weekend, here’s a bit of the fun we’ve had with Hillary over Plantgate here and here. Major Garrett at FNC has the latest reax from Hillary on how her garden of planted questioners did grow. Mrs. Smarty-Pants didn’t know nuthin’:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton responded to allegations Sunday that her presidential campaign had planted questions during public appearances.

At a media event in Waterloo, Iowa, Clinton responded to a reporter’s question about two separate incidents, one that occurred this week at a biodiesel plant in Newton, and the other in April on a farm outside Fort Madison, both in Iowa.

“Well it was news to me” Clinton said. “And neither I nor my campaign approve of that. And it will certainly not be tolerated.”

The reporter went on to ask if she knew of other incidents beyond those reported.

Clinton responded saying, “You know everything I know.”

But will the plausible deniability card work as the Norman Hsu case continues to unfold?

And how about those stifled secret documents?

Better watch out. If she keeps having to put on that “It’s news to me” face, she’s going to pull a few muscles.

I love the whole “yes, we did it, but it’s not something we do” defense. Love that:

“It’s not something we do; it’s not an official campaign policy,” Mr. Elleithee said yesterday. “But it is now an official campaign policy that we will not do this moving forward.”

Gaunt and glancing nervously at reporters, disgraced Democratic moneyman Norman Hsu appeared in a California court yesterday and agreed to spend another 10 weeks behind bars while his lawyers do “research.”

The surprise delay raised eyebrows because Hsu’s lawyers had filed motions asking the court to refund the $2 million bail he skipped out on in September and toss his 1992 fraud conviction altogether…

…Columbia law Prof. Daniel Richman said California and New York authorities could be in “some sort of negotiation toward a global resolution” of Hsu’s cases.

“It might also serve [Hsu's] purposes to stall until the presidential campaign is over,” Richman said.

“It’s not because the federal charges will go away, but it might be a more hospitable environment.“

The next hearing has been delayed until Jan. 4.

The San Mateo County Times reports:

Brosnahan did not offer a reason for the delay, and the prosecutor, Supervising Deputy California Attorney General Ron Smetana, also declined to discuss the subject.

Both attorneys refused to address speculation that a plea deal — covering both Hsu’s San Mateo County case and criminal charges filed in federal court in New York in September — was in the works.

But asked whether Hsu’s defense motions stood a chance before a San Mateo County Superior Court judge, Smetana replied outside of court Friday, “I expect the motions to be denied.”

For one thing, Hsu shouldn’t ben-efit from his flight from justice, even if he was hiding in plain sight, said Smetana. That would “stand the criminal justice system on its head,” he wrote in court documents.

He added on Friday that Hsu’s request to be sentenced by his original judge, now retired, seemed just as unlikely.

“It seems inappropriate to allow a defendant to flee and then come back and say, ‘I’m back, where’s my judge?’” he said.

Yup, that’s real Hsu-tzpah.

Blogs for Bush moves the ball forward by calling on the FEC to investigate Hill’s Chinatown funny money. Mark Noonan and Matt Margolis, citing the LAT and NYPost probes of the dishwasher donations, have filed a formal complaint:

October 31, 2007

Office of General Counsel
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20463

Dear Counsel:

We write to file a complaint against the Hillary Clinton for President Committee for violation of Federal Election Law under the Commission’s jurisdiction.

It is clear from recent news accounts that the campaign and its donors and fundraisers have violated 2 USC 441f, the provision of law that prohibits campaign contributions in the name of another, and that some donors may have violated 2 USC 441e which prohibits donations by foreign nationals without permanent resident status…

…it is worth noting that the Hillary Clinton for President Committee has clearly decided to take no action to remedy these violations. According to the New York Post, “The Clinton campaign dismissed the L.A. Times story as derogatory to Chinese-Americans.”

Accordingly, the Clinton campaign’s disinterest in and failure to remedy these violations along with the potential scope of the abuse indicates that that the Commission should investigate and take action against those responsible for violation of the law.

The information in this complaint is based upon information and belief, and not on our personal knowledge.

The FEC has 15 days to respond. Stay tuned.

***

Too bad the Blogs for Bush guys don’t have Asian ethnic surnames. Yes, Olbermann will have to be content with distracting attention from the core campaign finance corruption here by hitting his “MaglaGONG!”

The diversity-embracing nutroots just LOVE my last name.

They love to mock it, misspell it, and use it as some sort of debate-ending trump card.

B-b-b-b-but her name is “MAGLALANG!”

I thought this line of attack had played out. But nutroots-panderer and Johnny-come-lately Keith Olbermann, parroting Media Matters, has picked up the meme.

He can barely contain his glee at referring to me as “Michelle MaglaGONG Malkin.” That is his answer to my column arguing that Hillary ought to pay closer attention to limited English-proficient donors in Chinatown forking out big bucks on dishwashers’ salaries.

MaglaGONG, MaglaGONG, MaglaGONG, nyah, nyah, nyah:

Words fail.

***

Partial transcript:

Olbermann: Our winner, Michelle Malkin, self-destructing before our eyes. Questioning the propriety of donations to Senator Clinton’s campaign, writing they were from quote “dishwashers, cooks and other suspect Hillary campaign contributors in Chinatown, Flushing, The Bronx and Brooklyn who were limited-income, limited-English-proficient and smellier than stinky tofu.” Incredibly, she was not yet done: “If it’s ‘ethnic profiling’ to be extra-careful of Chinatown donors who can’t speak English…then “ethnic profiling” should be the standard procedure of every campaign.”

Olbermann: Oy. Michelle Malkin’s maiden name is MaglaGONG. She was born to Filipino parents in Philadelphia and what has evidently eluded her all these years is that she has been violently and viciously supporting a party which not only endorses ethnic profiling of people were born to Filipino parents in Philadelphia or Manila or Mars, but she has been supporting a party which includes most of the idiots in this country who would judge her entirely and exclusively on her appearance–Republicans–who would happily lump her in with the people in Chinatown, Flushing, the Bronx, and Brooklyn whom she has just so hatefully, moronically, ethnically slandered.

Olbermann: Michelle MaglaGONG Malkin, today’s worst person in the world.

Reminder from a close Olbermann watcher:

Olbermann’s been reprimanded by the ADL for his Nazi remarks, he’s compared Fox News to the Klan, he’s made “chicken and waffles” cracks about black athletes, and his staff once confused Opio Sokoni with Malik Shabazz when he was commenting on your segments with them. And I’m not even getting into all the anti-woman stuff for which he’s famous. This mispronunciation is part of a pattern. And since your maiden name is spelled correctly at Wikipedia and at NNDB, there’s really no excuse for getting it wrong. Maybe he mispronounced it on purpose.

MaglaGONG!!!!

***

Update Nov. 1: The MSNBC water-carriers over at TV Newser have linked this blog post, deriding it as a complaint about how my name was pronounced:

On her blog, author and conservative talking head Michelle Malkin corrects MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, not over the content of his commentary, but over his pronunciation…of her maiden name.

Read the entire post here for yourselves and watch the clip. I hope you are not as dense as the TV Newser Olbermann sucker-upper. The point is that Olbermann had no substantive response to my column on Hillary’s Chinatown funny money other than to mock my name like the impotent boob he is. That was the content of his criticism. Pathetic.

Leaders of Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote), a non-partisan non-profit civic engagement organization, once again calls for responsible reporting and portrayal of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) civic participation in the media. APIAVote does not condone any illegal participation in the American political system and those who do should be held accountable. Improper activities warrant attention, though recent media coverage has continuously mischaracterized the involvement of Asian Americans, as an entire community, in the electoral process. Undue scrutiny on a specific ethnic subgroup is considered negligent journalism; APIAVote leadership re-emphasizes the need for unbiased reporting on allegations of political misconduct.

“We are alarmed by the potential negative impact of irresponsible reporting and the harm it may have on legitimate political participation by members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community,” said Lisa Hasagawa, APIAVote Board Member. “It is imperative that the media approach these serious allegations with deliberation, focus and the highest levels of journalistic integrity. As the Asian American and Pacific Islander community embraces their right to participate in the civic process, it is important that the greater balance and responsibility be taken when addressing this important issue.”

I roast these P.C. police in my column today. Should we “profile” suspicious foreign campaign contributors? Hell, yes!

My conclusion:

The Clinton campaign is counting on left-wing editors to capitulate under heat from Asian-American groups who want to deflect attention away from suspicious foreign donations.

“I’m going to keep reaching out to everybody in our country. I want to be a president to everybody,” said a defiant Hillary in defense of her indiscriminate fund-raising. “Asian-Americans in Chinatown and Flushing have the same right to contribute as every other American,” Howard Wolfson, a campaign spokesman, told reporters. “We do not ethnically profile donors.”

“Ethnic profiling” is the rhetorical bugaboo the Clintons hope will stave off more investigations and invocations of Asian-American donor scandals past. Learning well from their far-left minority counterparts, these Asian-American groups have tried to turn the debate away from candidate and donor responsibility to the collective “rights” of the “Asian-American and Pacific Islander community.”

The identity politics tribe can call it “ethnic profiling.” I call it learning from history.

We’ve been here so many times before. With convicted DNC fund-raiser John Huang and Charlie Trie and Pauline Kanchanalak and Maria Hsia. With the Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns who helped engineer a Gore campaign reimbursement scheme and shredded documents related to their temple fund-raiser. With Washington ex-Gov. Gary Locke, who also took money from Chinese temple donors who couldn’t speak English, couldn’t remember when they donated or couldn’t be located.

Democrats apparently believe that only Americans should be saddled by Byzantine campaign-finance regulations while foreign donors get a pass. Asian-American lobbyists apparently believe minority groups should get less scrutiny from the media than everyone else – lest “their right to participate in the civic process” be undermined.

If it’s “ethnic profiling” to be extra-careful of Chinatown donors who can’t speak English, live in dilapidated buildings, have never voted, can’t tell Hillary Clinton from Hunan Chicken or simply can’t be found, then “ethnic profiling” should be the standard procedure of every campaign.

Discrimination isn’t a dirty word when it comes to keeping dirty money out of American politics.

***

Boo-freaking-hoo: Media Matters didn’t like my “smellier than stinky tofu” line.

The Los Angeles Times digs into Hillary’s finances and uncovers more mysterious Chinatown donors with dilapidated addresses in NYC and jobs unlikely to put them in the position of maxing out campaign contributions. They include dishwashers, waiters, contributors who deny making contributions, and another who “admitted to lacking the legal-resident status required for giving campaign money.” And more:

Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton’s campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000. When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) ran for president in 2004, he received $24,000 from Chinatown…

…Of 74 residents of New York’s Chinatown, Flushing, the Bronx or Brooklyn that The Times called or visited, only 24 could be reached for comment.

Will Hillary accuse the Times reporters of “stalking” now?

I like the use of the adjective “ephemeral:”

Like many who traveled this path, most of the Chinese reported as contributing to Clinton’s campaign have never voted. Many speak little or no English. Some seem to lead such ephemeral lives that neighbors say they’ve never heard of them.

Predictions: Hillary will come out swinging at the Times, her Asian-American acolytes will accuse the paper of racism and ethnic bigotry, and those “ephemeral” donors will never be found.

***

Hey, I just remembered something. Remember the story I blogged this summer about Chinese-language ballots in Boston? One Chinese translation of Hillary Clinton’s name:

“Upset Stomach.”

Most fitting today, I imagine.

***

Allah dubs it “Hsu II.”

And once again, the question looms:

Where is the money coming from?

***

Flip Pidot takes note of the rise of the bundler and takes a close look at Hill’s 3Q refunds. Methinks more of those will be on the way.

A purported pyramid-scheme operator who was run out of Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor has reinvented himself as the head of an upstate group accused of being a “cult” – and his devotees have pumped thousands into Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential run.

Executives and top associates of the Albany-based NXIVM group – along with their family members – donated $29,900 to Clinton’s presidential campaign, according to federal records.

On March 14 and April 13, records show, more than a dozen contributions poured into Clinton’s coffers from NXIVM, an executive and group-awareness training organization led by Brooklyn-born Keith Raniere, 47. Most were from first-time political donors, each giving the $2,300 maximum…three of the March and April Clinton pledges came from Raniere’s most high-profile followers: Seagram heiresses Clare and Sara Bronfman, and Pamela Cafritz, daughter of D.C. A-listers Buffy and Bill Cafritz. Cafritz shares a condo with Raniere.

The Bronfman sisters are also deeply involved with NXIVM and, according to a 2003 article in Forbes magazine, have loaned millions to the group and provided use of their jet. Their father, Edgar Bronfman Sr., once took NXIVM classes but soon severed ties, telling Forbes, “It’s a cult.”

The “cult” has spread its love around the Clinton family:

Hillary isn’t the only Clinton NXIVM officials are attracted to.

At least three of them – group President Nancy Salzman and the Bronfman sisters – are members of Bill’s charitable organization, the Clinton Global Initiative. Membership is by invitation only and requires at least a $15,000 donation per person for one year.

From the NXIVM website:

NXIVM is a new ethical understanding that allows us to build an internal civilization and have it manifest in the external world. It allows us to explore our most fundamental nature and to begin to redirect our power of creation, a power that we all possess in a very human sense. It is a place where humanity can rise to its noble possibility.

Sounds like total bullcrap.

Perfect match.

***

Meanwhile, look out for new numbers today as prez candidates do another Big Reveal:

Presidential campaigns aggressively competed for dollars up to the last minute of the third quarter, eager to build their bank accounts for an expensive stretch of media advertising and voter outreach.

Candidates were poised to begin revealing their fundraising numbers Monday, leaving the details for later, when they must file financial reports with the Federal Election Commission. The first votes of the presidential contest are scheduled to be cast in January.

A key number at this stage is how much cash the campaigns have on hand. They may raise a lot, or they may raise a little, but what they have in the bank to spend in the months ahead matters most.

Update: Fred takes in $8 mil.

***

Yes, I actually persuaded Bryan Preston to do his best Dion impression for our new Runaround Hsu video. All I had to do was chime in during the scat interludes. Feel like singing along? Lyrics here. Watch and share here:

Next in the works: Hsu Hsu Ron Ron!

In the latest news developments, The Smoking Gun has excerpts of the unsealed criminal complaint released today. They report:

Hsu contacted FBI agents last Thursday and said he “wanted to speak with them about his current criminal activity without his lawyers present.” During a September 14 meeting with Hsu, who was imprisoned in Colorado on an outstanding warrant from California, the swindler waived his Miranda rights and admitted his operation of a multimillion dollar investment scheme. He also acknowledged that he “made implied threats to his investors to pressure them to contribute to political candidates he supported.” But the complaint, which was unsealed today in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, does not identify the federal candidates to whom Hsu steered money.

Federal prosecutors in New York are expected to announce criminal charges against Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu later Thursday, sources told WNBC.com
Hsu is expected to be charged with orchestrating a $60 million “Ponzi Scheme” and engaging in widespread campaign finance violations.

WSJ has more details on Source Financing.

***
The Wall Street Journal continues to dig into Democrat funny money. They identify a Clinton donor who says her political contribution was reimbursed by her husband’s boss, a fund-raising bundler for the candidate:

When Hillary Rodham Clinton held an intimate fund-raising event at her Washington home in late March, Pamela Layton donated $4,600, the maximum allowed by law, to Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign.

But the 37-year-old Ms. Layton says she and her husband were reimbursed by her husband’s boss for the donations. “It wasn’t personal money. It was all corporate money,” Mrs. Layton said outside her home here. “I don’t even like Hillary. I’m a Republican.”

The boss is William Danielczyk, founder of a Washington-area private-equity firm and a major fund-raising “bundler” for Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Layton’s gift was one of more than a dozen donations that night from people with Republican ties or no history of political giving. Mr. Danielczyk and his family, employees and friends donated a total of $120,000 to Mrs. Clinton in the days around the fund-raiser.

In an interview, Mr. Danielczyk said he “did not and would not” reimburse employees or others for their political donations. Such reimbursement would be illegal. Mr. Danielczyk said he was a co-host for the event at Mrs. Clinton’s home. “Everybody was asked to contribute,” he said, “some said yes and some said no.” He added, “No arm was twisted.”

Hill’s “Hillraisers”–special designees who rake in $100,000 or more like Norman Hsu–are now coming under increased scrutiny:

Other Republican voters who contributed the maximum amount to Mrs. Clinton at this event included Mr. Danielczyk’s mother, sister, personal assistant and a half-dozen employees or their spouses. Most of the donors had never made a political donation before contributing $4,600 to Mrs. Clinton, according to fund-raising records.

Mr. Danielczyk said some of the attendees were Republicans, but “they may vote for her [Mrs. Clinton] now.” He added, “It’s odd … You try to get involved in the political process and you come under scrutiny.

“Odd?” No. It’s the necessary consequence of public disclosure.

Meanwhile, Norman Hsu is set to return to Cali today:

Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu is expected to return to San Mateo County today to face a 15-year-old felony theft conviction for defrauding Bay Area investors for up to $1 million. Hsu appeared in Mesa County District Court in Colorado on Wednesday in a yellow jail jumpsuit – his hands cuffed and his ankles shackled – and signed documents that sealed his extradition to California.

The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office was given 10 days to collect Hsu, but Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said in court that San Mateo County sheriff’s officials were planning to retrieve Hsu today.
Hsu was subdued in court and told Judge Brian Flynn that no one was forcing him to give up his right to fight extradition.

“Are you thinking clearly this morning?” Flynn asked. “Yes, your honor,” Hsu said.

Can’t say the same about all the Dems who allowed this con man to ingratiate himself into their coffers.

***
Stay tuned to investigative blogger Flip Pidot’s site for more number-crunching, dot-connecting, and loose ends-tying.

Mitt Romney’s got a bundler, but the majority named in this WaPo piece are Dems.

Glenn Reynolds is having too much fun.

More Bundlemania probing from Allah and See-Dub.

“Hill bill footed by Hsu” Gotta love the New York Post’s headline writers. Thankfully, what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas:

Members of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign staff got a nice payoff last year for their work to get her re-elected – a trip to Las Vegas funded by her fugitive former fund-raiser.

Among the Sin City guests of disgraced former fund-raiser Norman Hsu was Patti Solis Doyle, one of Clinton’s most trusted advisers who now runs the senator’s presidential campaign.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Hsu – who raised more than $850,000 for Clinton before being jailed last month on charges related to an investment scheme – treated the senator’s campaign staff to several days at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, complete with free show tickets and dinners at posh restaurants.

Doyle was accompanied by two junior staffers and a New York-based fund-raiser, the report said.

In April 2006, Hsu provided a hotel stay in Las Vegas for two other campaign workers.

Doyle also received a coveted and pricey designer handbag from the disgraced moneyman, the newspaper said. But she returned it.

Lovely details from the LA Times:

As they look back, Clinton staffers say Hsu’s efforts to ingratiate himself seem painfully, embarrassingly obvious. In addition to the post-victory trip to Las Vegas in November 2006 for Solis Doyle, two junior staffers and a New York-based fundraiser, Hsu provided a hotel stay in Las Vegas for two other campaign workers in April 2006.

While at the Mandalay Bay, Hsu took at least some of his guests to a favorite bar, Red Square. It features a huge statue of a decapitated Lenin at the entrance, and the top of the bar is sheathed in ice to maintain the chill of the caviar and exclusive vodkas.

Clinton aides believed Hsu had gotten their rooms on a complimentary basis because he was a frequent visitor to Mandalay Bay, the aides said.

Who is Patti Solis Doyle? Read more.

***

No one questions Norman Hsu!

In the late afternoon of Sept. 6, several hours before Norman Hsu was apprehended in Colorado, I got a curious visit on my website. Someone had Googled “Norman Hsu suicide.” My site came up in the search results because someone had made reference to Vince Foster’s suicide in the comments of one of my Hsu posts.

According to my public Sitemeter referral log, the visitor who Googled “Norman Hsu suicide” came from this law firm: Sack Harris & Martin, P.C., in McLean, Va.

I thought it was strange, made a mental note of the search, and bookmarked the law firm’s website, but did not blog about it.

In light of the Wall Street Journal’s new article today, though, I think the info is worth mentioning. The WSJ reports:

Before Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu skipped a court hearing and temporarily vanished last week, he typed out a suicide note and sent copies to several acquaintances and charitable organizations, according to people who received it.

The one-page note, signed by Mr. Hsu, “very explicitly said he intended to commit suicide,” said one of the recipients in an account corroborated by others, including law-enforcement officials. Mr. Hsu also apologized for putting anybody “through inconvenience or trouble,” the recipient said.

The letter, which began, “To whom it may concern,” arrived by FedEx at the addresses of several recipients last Thursday, the day after Mr. Hsu disappeared.

As the letters arrived, Mr. Hsu was on a Chicago-bound train from California. He fell ill and was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., where he was arrested. Yesterday he was released from the hospital and transferred to the Mesa County Jail, pending extradition back to California.

A spokesman for Mr. Hsu said he wouldn’t comment about the letter.

In the letter, Mr. Hsu wrote he was very upset by a wave of press in recent weeks that raised questions about his political fund-raising and business activities. Among other things, the articles brought attention to a 1991 fraud charge in California, to which he had pleaded no contest and then disappeared before his sentencing hearing.

Hsu was booked into Mesa County’s jail yesterday and will be extradited to San Mateo County, Calif.

Flip Pidot wonders: “Here’s what I don’t get – if Hsu was indeed suicidal over the “wave of press in recent weeks that raised questions about his political fund-raising and business activities,” and he FedExed the suicide note before getting on the train with a fistful of pills, why the coordinated attempts at suicide and unlawful flight? Was one backup, in case the other didn’t work?”