By the Smoking Gun
- Norman Hsu trial to begin
As if being linked to one high-profile criminal case weren’t enough,President-elect Barack Obama’s name may soon pop up in another federal prosecution,this one involving a massive Ponzi scheme (no,the other massive Ponzi scheme). In addition to the Rod Blagojevich pay-for-play probe,Obama could figure in the upcoming fraud trial of Norman Hsu,the disgraced Democratic fundraiser who was charged last year with operating a $60 million pyramid scheme. According to investigators,Hsu,a major Hillary Clinton fundraiser,pressured investors to donate money to political candidates with whom he was aligned. In a letter last week to U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero,Hsu’s lawyer,Martin Cohen,requested a 60-day delay in the start of Hsu’s trial,scheduled to open January 12 (Cohen cited the “extraordinary level of negative publicity”generated by the recent arrest of alleged Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff).