-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 20:57:54 -0600 Subject: Fund-raising trial gets under way Fund-raising trial gets under way WASHINGTON (AP) - The Jusice Department, kicking of trial against a former fund-raiser, says Maria Hsia concealed the source of more than $100,000 in illegal donations. Hsia's lawyer, meanwhile argues that the Los Angeles immigration consultant is the victim of ''a smear job'' by federal prosecutors. ''The system breaks down'' because of people like Hsia, who ''time and time again engaged in these schemes'' in the 1996 election campaign, prosecutor Eric Yaffe told the U.S. District Court jury in opening statements on Monday. In becoming ''a major player in the Democratic Party,'' Yaffe said, Hsia tapped well-to-do business acquaintances secretly to reimburse straw donors and conduits for cash who were falsely listed in federal election records as contributors. Hsia faces five felony counts of causing various Democratic campaign treasurers unwittingly to file false reports with the Federal Election Commission. Two charges deal with a 1995 Clinton-Gore fund-raiser in California, two revolve around Democratic fund-raisers in Washington and at a Buddhist temple in California, and the fifth deals with a fund-raiser at the same temple for Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I. <Picture: 0208gore225.JPG (10700 bytes)> Vice President Al Gore poses with unidentified Buddhist nuns at the Hsi Lai Temple outside Los Angeles in this copy of a March 1997 photo shown during a Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. Buddhist nuns acknowledged during testimony that their temple illegally reimbursed donors after a fund-raiser attended by Gore and later destroyed or altered records to avoid embarassment. (AP). Defense lawyer Nancy Luque said Hsia is a community activist who wanted Asian-Americans to become part of the political process. ''Maria didn't ask any person who made a contribution ... where they got money,'' said Luque. ''So don't ask, don't tell. ''The prosecutors want you to believe that her asking for contributions caused someone six steps removed to lie,'' but ''Maria Hsia is not responsible for what other people do,'' said Luque. ''Maria Hsia never lied.'' Hsia and former Democratic fundraiser John Huang helped arrange an April 29, 1996, luncheon at the Hsi Lai Temple near Los Angeles, which Vice President Gore attended but said he did not know was for fundraising. The visit, widely depicted in photographs showing Gore among monks and nuns in saffron-colored robes, has come to epitomize the 1996 fundraising scandal. The event raised $140,000, of which $65,000 was determined to be illegal contributions, according to a February 1998 indictment. The temple reimbursed its nuns and monks for their contributions. As a tax-exempt religious organization, the temple is barred by law from making political contributions. Yaffe said that for a fund-raiser at a Buddhist Temple in California attended by Vice President Gore, Hsia handed an envelope with $100,000 in checks to Democratic Party fund-raiser John Huang, who will testify against Hsia. The temple treasury was the source of many of the contributions, although election records falsely listed individual people as the donors, said Yaffe. Yaffe said the temple reimbursed Hsia for some of her own political contributions. Luque denied that, saying that Hsia was simply being paid for immigration-related work she did for the temple. U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman dismissed the heart of the prosecution's case in 1998, saying they used ''Alice-in-Wonderland'' logic to claim she was to blame for false campaign filings. An appeals court reinstated the charges. That court said, ''It is not entirely clear what defects the district court found in the government's theory.'' The Supreme Court cleared the way for the trial last month by refusing to hear Hsia's appeal. As the Justice Department battled in court last year to bring the February 1998 indictment to trial, two Buddhist nuns who prosecutors regarded as crucial to their case left the country to spend time with their religious order in Taiwan. Bench warrants have been issued for their arrest. In recent court papers, prosecutors said that one of the missing nuns ''would typically receive a telephone call from defendant Hsia to obtain political contributions, and ... on occasion, ... would provide the conduit checks to defendant Hsia.'' The two missing nuns ''destroyed documents once the temple's activities were discovered,'' the department said. ========================================================================== This mailing list is for discussion of Clinton Administration Scandals. If you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send electronic mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message body put: unsubscribe cas <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
