PrintHsu Boarded the Wrong Train? (updated)
The Norman Hsu saga continues to amaze, annoy, and amuse people who are following it.
Today's gem comes from a Hsu spokesman who offers a novel explanation of why the former fugitive Hillary Clinton fundraiser didn't make his court appearance on September 5:His spokesman, Jason Booth, said Hsu intended to appear for his Sept. 5 court date in California and may have thought he was boarding a Bay Area Rapid Transit train when he instead caught an Amtrak train heading out of the state.
And I'm not an idiot. Hsu had a ticket for Denver on him when he was arrested. And as Glenn Reynolds pithily asks, "Do BART trains have sleeping compartments?" which is where Hsu was found by paramedics when the train stopped in Grand Junction.
"That's what appears to be how it happened," said Booth, who was in Colorado on Tuesday on the eve of a court hearing at which Hsu was expected to waive extradition, officially ending his 15-year run from California authorities. "He was disoriented at the time. ... We believe he suffered a psychological, mental or physical breakdown. How that was caused I don't know. I'm not a doctor.
One other tidbit of information that is bound to raise even more questions about the mysterious Mr. Hsu:
Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger had requested that Hsu's bail in Colorado be set at $50 million, saying he had been informed that Hsu was "probably involved" in a scheme involving $33 million and about 50 investors in Orange County, Calif. He gave no details.The New York investigation clearly refers to the Source Financing Caper that has connections to fundraising for Democrats. But the Orange County investigation involving $33 million is a new one.
Hautzinger also cited an investigation in New York into whether Hsu was involved in the alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars from an investment fund
Once again, it makes those of us who have been trying to follow this story ask the ultimate question: Who is this guy?
Update from Thomas Lifson:
Glenn gets to the heart of the matter, but for the sake of those who don't know the Bay Area, there is no possibility at all of confusing AMTRAK and BART. There is a BART station near Oakland Airport, where Hsu arrived. The tracks are elevated and the trains look like very nice subways (carpeting, tinted glass) but would never be mistaken for the California Zephyr, which features double-deck passenger cars, a dining car, compartments, etc. and which are so long they stretch for blocks when stopped at the Emeryville station, about 7 miles from the airport, but adjacent to Berkeley where I live.
By the way, a compartment to Chicago on the Zephyr will run you hundreds of dollars. Even Grand Junction, CO runs well into 3 digits. Kind of steep compared to a BART ticket, which maxes out at something like 7 or 8 bucks tops if you go from one end of the system to the other.
I still do not understand how Hsu was able to obtain a compartment on the Zephyr on short notice. This train is usually sold out and you must buy tickets in advance. I hope the investigation determines how this happened.
