Hsu Cast Wide Net For Clinton Donors

Hsu, an immigrant from Hong Kong who by several accounts is a charming and easygoing man with an imperfect command of English, was convicted in California in 1991 for corporate theft, according to court records. Both the donors and the Clinton campaign have said they did not know about his past troubles during the period that he was channeling funds to the candidate. Several who mingled with Hsu at Clinton's lavish fundraising parties, strategy briefings and intimate dinners said he shared little about himself, beyond his work in what they called "the rag trade."

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Hsu's encounters with law enforcement authorities include a 1990 incident in which he was kidnapped by a Chinese organized-crime figure, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, who said Hsu owed him money, according to Foster City, Calif., police. Officers said they interrupted the crime during a 3 a.m. traffic stop, rescuing Hsu from the back of a Toyota.

Hsu was taken into custody Sept. 6 in Colorado after failing to appear at a bail hearing related to the California theft case, threatening suicide and then falling ill on a train.

Before his controversial past surfaced in late August, Hsu had built a reputation as an effective bundler of donations by others. "We sought him," said Marc Dunkelman, vice president for strategic communications at the Democratic Leadership Council, an advocacy group for centrist Democrats that was once chaired by Bill Clinton. Hsu donated $25,000 to the DLC this year, and the group is refunding the money, Dunkelman said.

Hsu's name was referred to the Clinton campaign by professional fundraisers who were aware of his donations to other campaigns and groups, according to a former Clinton aide. Hsu's donors to the Clinton presidential campaign included four others with the last name Hsu, including his grown son, Oliver. They gave a total of $16,100.

Hsu also claimed credit for donations by two other people, Danny Lee and Yu-Fen Huang, who have given $154,000 to Democratic causes since Hsu began his fundraising in late 2003. Fundraising and property records list them as joint owners of a nearly $1 million home in the New York neighborhood of Forest Hills.

The donations from Lee and Huang include $38,000 to Clinton's Senate campaign, political action committee and presidential committee. The two gave a total of $9,200 -- the maximum allowed -- to Clinton's presidential bid in the first quarter of this year, donations for which Hsu claimed credit. They also gave $8,400 in January to Clinton's 2012 Senate campaign, even though her reelection bid is six years off.

The two listed their place of employment as Newspring Packaging in Mount Carmel, Pa. Lee is listed as a vice president of Newspring, which makes plastic containers for food, and Huang is listed as a manager.

A third employee of Newspring, Soe Win Lee, also donated the maximum allowed amount to Clinton's campaign and made other recent Democratic donations. None of the three Newspring employees returned calls to their company seeking comment. Newspring's parent company, Pactiv Corp. of Illinois, said it does not comment on the private activities of its employees. It is not clear what connection, if any, Hsu had to the firm.

A few donors for whom Hsu claimed credit said that they didn't know him and that others must have passed their checks to him to give to Clinton's campaign.

Karen Tan, an employee at Super One Vision in San Francisco, said a friend who worked for California Assembly Majority Whip Fiona Ma asked her to contribute to Clinton. Donations that Ma collected, including Tan's, were credited to both Ma and Hsu because together they threw an August fundraiser for Clinton. Hsu contributed $8,300 to Ma's 2006 campaign.

A review of fundraising records found much overlap between Hsu's business investors and the political donations for which he claimed credit -- something that is common among political bundlers, who often solicit contributions from their business contacts.