Fugitive fundraiser turns himself in

Hsu faces grand theft charge in California

Sheriff's Office, San Mateo Coun	Booking photo of fundraiser Norman Hsu

NBC video

Clinton’s donor problem
Aug. 30: Senator Hillary Clinton has turned away a big donor with problems in his past. NBC’s Lisa Myers reports.

Nightly News

NBC Video: Politics

House health bill faces Senate showdown
Nov. 9: Morning Meeting’s Dylan Ratigan speaks with Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., about the amendments in the House health reform bill which may prevent it from being passed in the Senate.

Health care reform by January?

McCaskill: Moderate Dems working on cost control

Rep. Weiner: Abortion amendment unnecessary, divisive

Vanden Heuvel reacts to health care vote

House vote: Vulnerable Dems

First thoughts: Senate gets the baton

Congress: The House passes its bill

Slideshow

The Week in Political Cartoons
Msnbc.com’s political cartoonists take a look back at the past week.

more photos

updated 12:41 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2007

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - A top Democratic fundraiser wanted as a fugitive in California turned himself in Friday to face a grand theft charge.

San Mateo County Superior Court Judge H. James Ellis ordered Norman Hsu handcuffed and held on $2 million bond. A bail hearing was scheduled for Sept. 5, at which the judge will consider reducing his bail to $1 million.

Hsu appeared in court accompanied by a lawyer and publicist, both of whom declined to say whether the New York apparel executive would immediately post bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he skipped the sentencing for a 1991 grand theft charge.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

In the ensuing years, Hsu became a top donor to numerous Democratic candidates, including presidential contenders Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

After reports surfaced this week of Hsu's fugitive status in California, Clinton joined other candidates in returning thousands of dollars he raised, but the allegations distracted her campaign just as it prepared to ramp up for the intense post-Labor Day stretch.

The campaign announced Wednesday it would return $23,000 in contributions that Hsu made to her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to HillPac.

On Thursday, Obama's campaign said he would give to charity the $2,000 Hsu contributed to his 2004 Senate campaign and the $5,000 Hsu gave to his political action committee, Hopefund. Hsu's $43,700 in donations to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $2,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also will go to charity, both groups announced Thursday.

Hsu, who has an apparel business in New York and was a trustee in the city's New School, was a benefactor for many other Democratic candidates and office holders. Several also began to shed their ties to him, giving away his past donations to charity or returning them.