Hsu Surrenders to Authorities
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REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in today to face a grand theft charge.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for September 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million.
Hsu appeared in court accompanied by a lawyer and publicist, both of whom declined to say whether the New York apparel executive would immediately post bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped the sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge.
In the ensuing years, Mr. Hsu became a top donor to numerous Democratic candidates and was a fundraiser for presidential contender Senator Clinton. He also had contributed to Senator Obama’s past Senate campaign and his political action committee.
Today, Mr. Hsu, who has an apparel business in New York, also resigned from the board of trustees of The New School and from the board of governors of The New School’s Eugene Lang College. The college received a federal appropriation secured by Mrs. Clinton last year, but a spokesman for the school said Mr. Hsu was not involved in seeking money for the school.
After reports surfaced this week of Mr. Hsu’s fugitive status in California, Mrs. Clinton joined other candidates in returning thousands of dollars he raised, but the allegations distracted her campaign just as it prepared to ramp up for the intense post-Labor Day stretch.
The campaign announced Wednesday it would return $23,000 in contributions that Mr. Hsu made to her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to HillPac.
Yesterday, Mr. Obama’s campaign said he would give to charity the $2,000 Mr. Hsu contributed to his 2004 Senate campaign and the $5,000 Mr. Hsu gave to his political action committee, Hopefund. Mr. Hsu’s $43,700 in donations to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $2,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also will go to charity, both groups announced yesterday.
