Here they go again....

[Lurker]

Good point. I think Chinese-Americans should be banned from making political donations to put the concern trolls mind at ease.

[Partha]

Motes, logs....

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/ ... 06058.html

BALTIMORE - A federal grand jury indicted a corporate executive who allegedly ran a scheme to make $32 million in false purchases of computer equipment, spending the money instead on beach real estate and private jet travel, prosecutors said Thursday.

Alan B. Fabian, 43, of Hunt Valley, was charged in a 23-count indictment unsealed Thursday with mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice.

Defense attorney David Irwin said Fabian was not negotiating a plea deal but that he has been cooperating with the investigation.

At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein called it one of the largest monetary theft cases ever prosecuted in Maryland. He said it was exceeded only by the Allfirst case, in which rogue trader John M. Rusnak defrauded the bank of nearly $700 million. Irwin also represented Rusnak.

Who's Alan Fabian?

http://www.politicalfriendster.com/show ... 92&id2=386

A fund-raiser for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign resigned from his volunteer post last week after being indicted in Maryland for allegedly defrauding companies of $32 million.

Alan B. Fabian, 43, a Maryland businessman who cochaired the national finance committee for Romney's campaign, was indicted Wednesday by a Maryland grand jury on 23 counts of mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice, according to the US attorney's office in Baltimore.

Fabian had served as cochair since January and had contributed the maximum amount of $2,300, said Eric Fehrnstrom, a campaign spokesman.

"We have accepted Mr. Fabian's resignation from his unpaid, volunteer position on the national finance committee, and we are returning his contribution to the campaign," Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail yesterday.

I'm waiting for Jecks' howls of outrage. But I'm not holding my breath while I do it.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Good point. I think Chinese-Americans should be banned from making political donations to put the concern trolls mind at ease.

Do you think they should be banned from making donations in other s names? Do you think they should be banned from listing incorrect addresses (in all truthfullness, the address was correct, it just didnt happen to be the one he lived at), or otherwise obfuscating where the cash was coming from?

If he was above board, and was just a concerned citizen who wanted to help the Democrats, why all the subterfuge, shell games and machinations to hide the sources of the money?

[Lurker]

It is illegal to make donations in other's names. Bundling donations, however, is legal. Can you provide evidence that there was an attempt to 'hide the sources of money', or that the cash came from someone other than the name on the donation, or that the donations were illegal in some other way?

[Embar Angylwrath]

It is illegal to make donations in other's names. Bundling donations, however, is legal. Can you provide evidence that there was an attempt to 'hide the sources of money', or that the cash came from someone other than the name on the donation, or that the donations were illegal in some other way?

And even though the former first lady is donating the $23,000 she received from him, Singer said her campaign would not relinquish an additional $45,000 that came from the family of a Daly City postal worker of modest means, whose donations closely tracked those of the California political rainmaker.

Hsu claimed to have bundled donations from the family, who gave a combined $213,000 -- including $50,000 to Clinton -- over a three-year period, according to the Los Angeles Times.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld ... 1009.story

That Daly City postal worker makes about 50K/year. His wife doesn't work. He lives in a house that Hsu lists as Hsu's address.

Do find it ikely the postal worker's family made 213K of political donations over a three year period?

[Lurker]

Ah. I see the problem. As with your denier beliefs regarding global warming, you've formed your opinion on a feast of misinformation from dishonest sources.

That Daly City postal worker makes about 50K/year. His wife doesn't work. He lives in a house that Hsu lists as Hsu's address.

Do find it ikely the postal worker's family made 213K of political donations over a three year period?

The father makes about 50k a year and the wife doesn't work; true enough. But they have four adult children with careers. One of them is an executive at a mutual fund. The bulk of the 200k in donations came from him. The family's lawyer has offered to show financial records for everyone involved proving that they can afford to and did make all the donations done in their names. Hell, even the original story in the WSJ said, "There is no public record or indication Mr. Hsu reimbursed the Paw family for their political contributions." No record or indication. Nothing.

How could you not know this, seeing this is an issue you care so deeply about? Hmmmm. How could you not know?

[Trollbait]

Seriously, Lurker, you really need to research the history involved here.

I mean, c'mon....what conclusions are we supposed to reach given the temple tea parties and Chinese intelligence officers linked to Clinton donors?

You really REALLY don't want to stick your neck out too far on this one.

[Ddrak]

I'd place the whole Chinese thing in the same bucket as Saudi support of the Bush campaign. Take that as you like.

Dd

[Lurker]

I mean, c'mon....what conclusions are we supposed to reach...

Well, you could gather the facts and reach a conclusion, or you could do what Embar proved he's doing in this case - soak up disinformation and then speculate.

You really REALLY don't want to stick your neck out too far on this one.

I really REALLY appreciate your concern, troll.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Ah. I see the problem. As with your denier beliefs regarding global warming, you've formed your opinion on a feast of misinformation from dishonest sources.

That Daly City postal worker makes about 50K/year. His wife doesn't work. He lives in a house that Hsu lists as Hsu's address.

Do find it ikely the postal worker's family made 213K of political donations over a three year period?

The father makes about 50k a year and the wife doesn't work; true enough. But they have four adult children with careers. One of them is an executive at a mutual fund. The bulk of the 200k in donations came from him. The family's lawyer has offered to show financial records for everyone involved proving that they can afford to and did make all the donations done in their names. Hell, even the original story in the WSJ said, "There is no public record or indication Mr. Hsu reimbursed the Paw family for their political contributions." No record or indication. Nothing.

How could you not know this, seeing this is an issue you care so deeply about? Hmmmm. How could you not know?

It wasn't the "bulk" of the donations, it was roughly half. All of the children, including the one that made the 100k donations, list the 1200 or square foot Paw residence as their home address.

And Winkle Paw, the guy that donated the 100K, works with Hsu, according to Hsu's lawyer.

If it looks like and duck and walks like a duck...

[Ddrak]

If it looks like and duck and walks like a duck...

...it's good enough for Dick Cheney to shoot?

[Trollbait]

Embar did not say "If it looks like a lawyer and quacks like a lawyer.."

[Trollbait]

Just for historical reference.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... i_54852011

After months of cooperation with the ongoing probe into the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign, Chung finally broke his silence in an environment that included Rep. Henry Waxman of California and other determined Democratic Party partisans. Flanked by his lawyer, Brian Sun, and an interpreter, Chung outlined in a statement more than 30 pages long how he sought to make "business investments" by contributing $366,000 to the Democrats between 1994 and 1996. He detailed the access these donations bought him and revealed how he was used by both the Chinese and the Clintons.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress ... _5-19.html

Then, last Friday, The New York Times reported that Justice Department investigators believe they have established such a link, based on testimony provided by California businessman Johnny Chung. Chung, who made hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable contributions to the Democratic National Committee, began cooperating with the Justice Department after pleading guilty to campaign-related bank and tax fraud charges in March. Chung reportedly told investigators that a significant portion of his 1996 contributions came from China's People's Liberation Army by way of Liu Chao-Ying, a lieutenant colonel who also is a top executive of Beijing's state-owned aerospace company, China Aerospace. That same year, the Clinton administration was making it easier for American commercial satellites to be launched by Chinese rockets--a move that benefitted Liu's company. Such launchings had been tightly restricted in the past out of concern that they would give China access to technology that could be used for military purposes.

http://www.wpni.com/wp-srv/politics/spe ... /story.htm

In early October, national newspapers first mentioned a White House connection with Mochtar and James Riady, who head the $12 billion Indonesia-based Lippo conglomerate, and John Huang, once the top Lippo executive in the United States. The Lippo-Clinton connection began to emerge as a campaign issue following reports that company associates and Riady family members contributed nearly $1 million to the Democratic Party, some of which appeared to have come from foreign sources in violation of U.S. election laws.

At the center of the controversy was Huang. He had raised campaign money for Bill Clinton in 1992 and was appointed to a midlevel position at the Commerce Department after the election, then moved on last year to a fund-raising job at the Democratic National Committee. As the DNC's point-man for soliciting campaign funds from the Asian American community, Huang raised some $3 million, most of which has now been refunded by the DNC because it came from questionable or illegal sources. Huang has denied acting illegally or improperly in his fund-raising duties.

Clinton's friendship with Huang and the Riadys goes back to his days as governor in Arkansas, where Lippo had banking interests. In Washington, Huang and the Riadys visited the Clintons and White House staff on numerous occasions. Huang and James Riady mentioned to Clinton the need for improved U.S. relations with China.

In February, the Washington Post reported that a special Justice Department task force examining fund-raising activities during last year's campaigns is investigating whether the Chinese government succeeded in directing foreign contributions to the Democratic Party. Last year, the FBI warned six members of Congress that they had been targeted by China to receive illegal campaign contributions funneled through foreign companies. Senior Chinese government officials have categorically denied interfering in U.S. elections.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/09/ ... ings.main/

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sep. 4) -- Two Buddhist nuns who helped coordinate an April 1996 temple fund-raiser attended by Vice President Al Gore admitted today they destroyed a list of donors and other documents because they thought the information would embarrass the temple.

Man-Ho Shih, one of three nuns testifying today at the Senate campaign finance hearings, said she threw away a copy of her list of donors who gave a total of $45,000.

Asked why, Man-Ho said, "I'm afraid the document might cause embarrassment to the temple." The temple's administrative officer said she destroyed other documents too, in Fall 1996 after news stories about the now-infamous Hsi Lai Temple luncheon appeared.

Yi-Chu, the temple's bookkeeper, said she also destroyed documents and made new entries in the temple's books. "Developments were unfolding so fast that I was -- I really got nervous," she said. "See, I'm the bookkeeper of the temple, but I'm not a professional accountant. And for a lot of entries, I don't know how to deal with them. So I decided to destroy some of the documentation and make some new entries in the books."

Both Man-Ho and Yi-Chu said they acted on their own, and not at the direction of anyone else.


The nuns, dressed in brown robes, appeared on the first day of renewed campaign finance hearings by Sen. Fred Thompson's committee. In a written statement read by their attorney, Brian Sun, the nuns acknowledged the temple reimbursed members of the order who made $5,000 contributions to the Democrats, but said if the temple broke the law, it did not do so intentionally and none of the money came from overseas. (288K wav sound)

Tax-exempt religious organizations, like the temple, are not allowed to make political contributions. It is illegal for anyone to make political donations in someone else's name.

Gore's appearance at the fund-raiser has proven a major embarrassment for the vice president, but he also faces new Justice Department scrutiny on another front: his 46 fund-raising calls from the White House.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITIC ... index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Al Gore was asked to bring $20 to the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple fund-raiser and his staff was informed that a businessman was willing to raise $250,000 in exchange for coffee with President Clinton, according to recently reconstructed White House e-mails.

The half-inch stack of e-mails released Friday are part of some 100,000 incoming messages that were not properly archived under the White House e-mail system -- and thus, not turned over to investigators in response to various subpoenas issued by the Office of Independent Counsel, the Justice Department, and several congressional committees.

The e-mails were turned over to House Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, a long time critic of the Clinton administration.

"The evidence is clear the Whitehouse has obstructed this committee's investigation time and time again," said Burton in a statement.

Gore spokesman Jim Kennedy said Friday that the e-mails contained "nothing of significance."

One e-mail offered to raise $250,000 in exchange for a White House coffee and a Clinton interview with a Taiwanese reporter. The offer was made by Taiwanese-American businessman George Chang of Virginia

Now THAT looks like a duck!

Seriously, when you read through all of the things in the past with the Clinton's and campaign finance and compare it to the latest developments in the Hsu/Paw case and if you are honest with yourself (Hint lefties) you quickly realize that something is rotten in Denmark.

I really told Lurker he did not want to go here.

[Lurker]

I really told Lurker he did not want to go here.

Ummmm. . . I didn't go there; you did. I wondered when you would vomit up a cut-and-paste of the old scandals. What took you so long?

======

Embar,
I'm glad to see you've moved past the, "OMG how did someone making 50k a year donate 200k!" phase. I'd suggest you pay very close attention. Any source (Rush, Hannity, NY Post. . .etc, etc) that continues to frame this story as contributions by a postal worker making 50k a year is lying to you. Maybe you should be more skeptical of what they tell you in the future.

[Embar Angylwrath]

I really told Lurker he did not want to go here.

Ummmm. . . I didn't go there; you did. I wondered when you would vomit up a cut-and-paste of the old scandals. What took you so long?

======

Embar,
I'm glad to see you've moved past the, "OMG how did someone making 50k a year donate 200k!" phase. I'd suggest you pay very close attention. Any source (Rush, Hannity, NY Post. . .etc, etc) that continues to frame this story as contributions by a postal worker making 50k a year is lying to you. Maybe you should be more skeptical of what they tell you in the future.

As I've said many times before, Rush and company are not on my playlist. As a matter of fact, most of my info on this came from mediawatch.

[Trollbait]

And still no commentary from Lurker as to how similar this "new" thing looks like the Clinton era campaign finance scandals of the past.

You really have no answer for it. Your heroes are crooked as a dogs hind leg. Deal with it.

[Lurker]

And still no commentary from Lurker as to how similar this "new" thing looks like the Clinton era campaign finance scandals of the past.

You really have no answer for it.

What answer do you expect? It would make about as much sense for me to debate someone that thinks the WTC towers were brought down by controlled demolition because of how similar it looks. It's pointless to debate someone who's driven by an agenda and relying on pure speculation, but I'll humor you. Even if Hsu turns out to have made illegal contributions (and so far nobody has shown any indication that this happened), Clinton wouldn't have known about it; just like in the 90's.

[Embar Angylwrath]

Hsu was a political insider. As a rainmaker, he was on every Democrat political operative's radar. A cursory check of the guy would have revealed the standing arrest warrant, which existed for YEARS. And I feel that cursory check was indeed done. But the results were ignored because of the money faucet this guy was.

[Trollbait]

Clinton wouldn't have known about it; just like in the 90's.

Oh yes, the old canard. Deny, Obfuscate, Obstruct. The Clinton battle cry.


They just absorb the illegal funds.....but they know not where they come from.


When I saw Hsu post a 2 million dollar bond even though the New York Times cannot actually determine that his "business" actually exists or how he makes his money I thought "Here be Dragons".


Were you aware, Lurker, that while on the run the first time Hsu spent a considerable time in China?

Were you aware, Lurker, that Hsu's "business" does not hold up to cursory scrutiny?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/us/po ... ref=slogin

[F]or a number of businesses that Mr. Hsu has listed in recent years as his own, no corporation records are available, and visits to addresses he has given in campaign finance filings found no trace of them.
In one filing, he listed his occupation as a co-investor with a New Jersey fashion designer. But yesterday, the designer said he had never heard of Mr. Hsu and had never done business with him.

Were you aware, Lurker, that Norman Hsu is a close friend to Bernard L. Schwartz of previous Chinese quid pro quo fundraising scandal fame?


That should at least raise the eyebrows of an intellect like Ddrak.....but I hold no hope for a BillaryBot like yourself.

[Lurker]

Were you aware...

I was aware of all those allegations. I wasn't aware you could do such a great Perry Mason impersonation.

I hold no hope for a BillaryBot like yourself.

I said before Hillary would make a fine President but isn't my first choice. That hasn't changed.