PrintSeptember 1, 2007
Who is Mr. Hsu?: Part II
The story of Norman Hsu, one of the top Democratic fundraisers in the country, has gotten even more bizarre and interesting.
It seems that Mr. Hsu may have been kidnapped by Asian gang leaders back in 1990:
In 1990, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that a group of Chinatown gang leaders had been arrested for kidnapping Mr. Hsu. The article said the alleged kidnappers were stopped after speeding through a red light, and Mr. Hsu took the opportunity to tell police he was being kidnapped. The article said he owned a restaurant and clothing businesses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.Gang "leaders?" And was he really being "kidnapped?" If he was, Mr. Hsu can consider himself extremely lucky. The Triads are not known for granting mercy to those who cross them. But the story mentioned "gang leaders" which is very strange. What would rival gang leaders be doing their own dirty work such as kidnapping some poor, nobody of a business person? And what would they be doing cooperating with one another in the first place?
We can only speculate on an alternative explanation but could Mr. Hsu have also been one of those "gang leaders" and is it possible he wasn't being kidnapped but rather taken to some kind of gathering place?
Additionally, details have emerged about the swindle Mr. Hsu was running that got him into trouble with the authorities. It involved importing latex gloves from Asia:
In a separate matter, Mr. Hsu turned himself in at State Superior Court in California, where he faced three years in jail before vanishing in the early 1990s. Mr. Hsu had raised more than $1 million from investors to import latex gloves from Asia and resell them for a profit, according to Ronald Smetana, the deputy California attorney general who handled the case.The DA says Hsu never had a contract to import the gloves and simply stole the one million from investors. Such scams are not uncommon in the import-export business. Nor is it uncommon for those scams to be run by the Triads who have deep familial and business connections to Hong Kong and mainland China.
This is not to say that Hsu is a member of a gang or that he even does business with gangs. But questions should be raised about these issues by the Department of Justice who have opened an investigation into Mr. Hsu's activities.
