Opening statements in long-delayed fund-raising trial

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At the start of a long-delayed trial for a former Clinton-Gore fund-raiser, the Justice Department said Monday<br>that businesswoman Maria Hsia concealed the source of more than $100,000

Monday, February 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) -- At the start of a long-delayed trial for a former Clinton-Gore fund-raiser, the Justice Department said Monday
that businesswoman Maria Hsia concealed the source of more than $100,000 in illegal donations.

Hsia's lawyer retorted 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.

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.

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."

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.