Dem Donor Hsu Pleads Guilty to $20M Fraud

(NEWSER) - Norman Hsu is a man of many hats, but the Hillary Clinton fundraiser extraordinaire, Ponzi schemer, and onetime fugitive has been sentenced to wear them in prison for the next 24 years. While significantly less than the 30 years prosecutors had asked for, Hsu’s lawyer tells the Wall Street Journal that his client plans an appeal. Though Hsu has admitted guilt, he says the prosecution inflated the size of his Ponzi scheme, which is taken into consideration when sentencing. More»

Four cases, six defendants, $1.1M in contributions

(NEWSER) - A number of Hillary Clinton’s top fundraisers are now caught up in criminal cases, including Galen Capital Group Chairman William P. Danielczyk Jr., who was indicted last week. There are now four major federal cases involving six defendants who raised a total of more than $1.1 million for Clinton’s 2006 Senate campaign and 2008 White House campaign, the Washington Post reports. Danielczyk is accused of skirting campaign finance limits by illegally reimbursing almost $190,000 in donations he'd nominally solicited from others. More»

Russians considered fundraiser a 'very interesting target'

(NEWSER) - One of the alleged Russian spies arrested yesterday apparently tried to work her way into the Clintons' inner circle through a job at a financial advising firm. The woman who went by Cynthia Murphy worked at Morea Financial Services, where, according to court documents, she reported to her Russian superiors that she had several "work-related" meetings with a "prominent New York-based financier" who was "active in politics" and a "personal friend" of a current Cabinet secretary. More»

Term for former NYPD chief is harsher than prosecutors sought

(NEWSER) - A federal judge sentenced disgraced NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik to four years in prison today, berating him for trying to exploit 9/11. The sentence was harsher than the 27 to 33 months the prosecutor had recommended in Kerik’s plea bargain, in which he admitted to eight charges, including lying to the White House, taking a payoff from a mob-linked contractor, and falsifying his tax returns. More»

New York trial represents proper US tradition, AG says

(NEWSER) - Confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four co-defendants will face the death penalty, Eric Holder confirmed today, and the AG leapt to defend the decision to try them in a civilian court in New York. They will “answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks away from where the Twin Towers once stood,” Holder said. “I fully expect to direct prosecutors to seek the death penalty against each of the alleged 9/11 conspirators.” More»