Rosenman and Guilden-Hsu

The Wall Street Journal reports  that a producer of the Woodstock festival, Mr. Joel Rosenman, claims he invested $40 million with Norman Hsu, who told him he'd produce products for Gucci and Prada in China on which they'd make a forty percent profit. Gucci and Prada do not produce things in China and if they did, it's hard to see why having diluted the value of their brand by doing so, they wouldn't take the profit for themselves.

At a minimum, the donors who bundled Hsu's money face potential election-finance violations. The feds could add money laundering to the list of charges -- and since the money got sent around via wire transfers, wire fraud will likely get included. Finally, if the wire transfers show complicity to deceive, all of the contributors who participated may find themselves in the middle of a RICO prosecution, which could mean lengthy stretches in federal prison for everyone. [....]

...it hardly paints the Democrats in a good light to have to answer depositions in a fraud involving the theft of $40 million, dragged out over the next several months. [....]

Did some other deep-pocketed entity front the money for Hsu in order to thoroughly launder the cash? It seems like the perfect long con -- show some flash up front and steal big in the end, but it still requires someone to supply the up-front money. [....]

... literally hundreds of potential co-conspirators... will vie for the opportunity to mitigate their legal exposure and testify to Hsu's machinations. The FBI will not act gently, either, and neither will the IRS, which will undoubtedly recheck the returns of all involved.....