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| For Immediate Release | |
| Feb 7, 2001 | Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
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“Conflicted” Judge Rejects Jail Time for Buddhist Temple Fundraiser (Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the non-partisan public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, reacted angrily today to the refusal of Clinton appointee Judge Paul Friedman to impose any jail time for campaign fundraising felony violations by Maria Hsia relating to her illegal fundraising at a California Buddhist Temple with Al Gore and accused Chinese spy John Huang. Hsia also raised money illegally for Clinton-Gore ‘96 and Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Rather than impose the six month jail sentence that prosecutors requested, Judge Friedman issued a small $5,000 fine and sentenced Hsia to serve three months of home detention, which allows her to leave her house each day to work. Judge Friedman’s colleagues on the federal bench in the District of Columbia, at the request of Judicial Watch, are now considering the results of an investigation into whether, among other things, Judge Friedman was specially assigned Hsia’s case by Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson to help ensure a political outcome beneficial to Clinton and Gore. Judge Friedman was appointed to the federal bench by Bill Clinton in 1994. (Despite a 1997 finding by Senate investigators that Hsia “has been an agent of Chinese government, that she had acted knowingly in support of it, and that she has attempted to conceal her relationship with the Chinese government,” there had been no investigation or pursuit of these charges by the Clinton-Gore Justice Department. Judge Friedman is expected to rule today on Hsia’s incredible request for permission to visit China.) “Judge Friedman, who was appointed by Clinton-Gore, should have recused himself from this case -- which directly implicated his political benefactors. His sentence of Hsia is an unjust ‘slap on the wrist’ and, frankly, is evidence that Judge Friedman was assigned Hsia’s case in the first place to ensure the likelihood of a certain result,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. |
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