U.S. Judge Dismisses 5 of 6 Counts Against Fund-Raiser

A federal district court judge Thursday dismissed five of six charges against Democratic fund-raiser Maria Hsia that accused her of using money from a Buddhist temple to make illegal contributions to the Clinton-Gore reelection drive and other campaigns.

The decision was a setback for the Justice Department’s Campaign Financing Task Force, which brought the charges against Hsia, one of several Asian American fund-raisers whose roles in the 1996 Democratic campaign became the focus of intense scrutiny. It also could have ramifications on pending cases against other Democratic fund-raisers, campaign finance experts said.

The ruling was welcome news to Vice President Al Gore, whom Hsia hosted at a controversial 1996 Democratic fund-raiser at the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights.

The remaining count charges Hsia, a Los Angeles immigration consultant, with conspiring with the Hsi Lai temple to make campaign contributions through conduits, including monks, nuns and Hsia herself. In a separate matter, she also faces tax fraud charges.

“Maria feels she has been vindicated,” said Nancy Luque, Hsia’s attorney. “It’s extremely rare to have a case thrown out this early in the process and to have five of the six counts tossed is a strong indication that the government never had a case.”

Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg said the department “hopes to have a decision soon on whether to pursue an appeal.”

Hsia was charged with conspiring with the temple to make disguised contributions to the April 29, 1996, Democratic National Committee fund-raiser that featured Gore. The money was donated in the names of individuals but allegedly came from temple funds.

Hsia was also accused of disguising contributions to Republican Dan Knabe’s 1996 Los Angeles County supervisor’s race; the 1994 reelection campaign of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.); the 1996 reelection campaign of his son, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), and Democrat March Fong Eu’s 1994 campaign for reelection as California secretary of state.

The temple was named an unindicted co-conspirator.

U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman said prosecutors would have to prove that Hsia actually conspired with the campaign treasurer to knowingly submit the false information or knew the false information would be provided to the government.

Friedman said the indictment contained an “Alice-in-Wonderland-like maze of logical leaps and tangled inferences. . . . At every turn, one encounters another place where the government’s theory defies logic and stretches almost beyond recognition the two criminal statutes on which it relies.”

Trevor Potter, an election law attorney and former member of the Federal Election Commission, said Friedman’s ruling is the first time to his knowledge a judge had made such an interpretation and that it could have broad impact.

The charge of filing false information has “been a powerful weapon for prosecutors in election law cases. If this judge’s reasoning is upheld and used in other cases, it will significantly diminish the weapons in the government’s arsenal,” he said.

The temple fund-raiser was a political headache for Gore. He initially said he believed it was a “community outreach” event but later acknowledged that he knew it was finance-related. Hsia, who arranged the event with Democratic Party fund-raiser John Huang, had raised money for Gore since she and Huang joined him on a trip to Taiwan in 1989 when he was a senator.

Gore still faces a preliminary 90-day inquiry to determine if a special prosecutor should be appointed to look into whether he made false statements to investigators last year.