Opinion: Ponzi schemes and politicians: Norman Hsu missing from Clinton Foundation donor list

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Aficionados of Ponzi schemes and politicians may recall Norman Hsu, the notorious practitioner of that particular dark financial art in 2007, and his relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Hsu was the bicoastal “businessman” who claimed to be in the garment business but in fact bilked numerous seemingly sophisticated investors.

Hsu used his political connections to give his ruse credibility. After all, he couldn’t be all bad if he gave hundreds of thousands to politicians and their causes, and had his picture taken with the Clintons and others.

Hsu’s scheme unraveled in 2007 when then L.A. Times reporters Chuck Neubauer and Robin Fields disclosed that Hsu was on the run from California criminal charges filed nearly 20 years earlier.

Given that Hsu was a major contributor to the Clintons, why was Hsu’s name omitted from the recently released list of 200,000 donors who had given to William J. Clinton Foundation?

That promoted an inquiry to the foundation: Didn’t Hsu donate to help the former president do his good deeds around the world?

A Clinton aide acknowledged that Hsu indeed was a donor, but wasn’t sure of the amount. Just as Hillary Clinton gave back money that Hsu raised for her campaign, the former president also gave back Hsu’s tainted dollars.

That meant that Hsu was no longer a donor, so his name did not appear on the list, the aide said. Nor did the names of any others to whom money was returned.

A year later, Bernard Madoff, is accused of running the far more audacious Ponzi scheme. He too gave to numerous politicians. As it happened, however, he was not included on the Clinton Foundation list because he never donated to the charity.

--Dan Morain