US-Chinese donor to Democratic party arrested

[GaryC 7]

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Chinese-American businessman Norman Hsu, whose huge donations embarrassed prominent Democrats this week, was arrested Friday in California for a 1992 fraud case, justice officials said.

Hsu turned himself into police in Redwood City in Silicon Valley near San Francisco and was being held in lieu of two million dollars in bail set in a brief court hearing.

"Yes Mr. Norman Hsu is in custody, but I can't give you more information about this case," said a spokesperson for Redwood City's district attorney.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Hsu has been considered a fugitive since 1992 after he failed to show up for a hearing on a fraud charge he pleaded guilty to a year earlier.

The newspaper said he has since 2003 helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Democrats at the national, state and local level, but in recent weeks the sources of the money have come under question, and the outstanding warrant against Hsu became an embarrassment for the party.

Hsu, reported by the New York Times to be a naturalized US citizen originally from Hong Kong, made headlines over the past week after being reported as one of the top 20 donors to the Democratic Party and various Democratic candidates, including presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

After questions were raised about hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations linked to Hsu, Clinton, Obama and others said they would give away the money to charity.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070831/pl_af...GPSTaC0yEbkbeRF