Suitably Flip

NYT Op-Ed Columnist Still Fooled By Norman Hsu's Bogus Investor Pitch

In a piece that manages simultaneously to pooh-pooh luxury brands like Gucci and Prada for supriously manufacturing their ostensibly high-end, European goods in China and to castigate the "xenophobic" brand executives who seem to believe Chinese manufacture indicates lower quality, New York Times op-ed columnist and Newsweek cultural correspondent Dana Thomas supports the former claim with a questionable source.

[The high] prices are worth it, we are told, because these goods are handmade in Europe by artisans. In fact, that is not always the case — as we learned from the recent news reports on the activities of Norman Hsu, the Democratic political fund-raiser indicted on charges of investment fraud. Mr. Hsu told potential clients that he would use their money to finance the manufacturing of Gucci and Prada items in China — and promised a 40 percent return on the investment.

This was surprising, given that both brands have long maintained that they do not produce their wares there. A Prada spokesman reiterated it when the Hsu news broke, telling Women’s Wear Daily that Prada does not manufacture its products in China — though if you look inside one of Prada’s popular nylon toiletry cases, you’ll sometimes find a small tag that states otherwise.

Thomas may not have fully understood the nature of "the Hsu news", because at the heart of matter is the allegation that Hsu's apparel activities were wholly fictional.  The "charges of investment fraud" relate to an alleged Ponzi scheme, in which the only business being done was the recruitment of more investors (and the occasional flood of contributions to dozens of Democratic candidates).  I visited Hsu's stated places of business back in September and failed to find not only a bustling apparel conglomerate, but any trace of Hsu or his many business entities.

That's not to say Gucci and Prada aren't using Chinese labor - just that the allegation is poorly supported by parroting Hsu's phony claims.  Dozens of investors were hoodwinked by Hsu, a mistake that has left them tens of millions of dollars poorer.  At the time, his A-list political affiliations and the impressive early returns he generated for his investors were enough to overshadow Hsu's otherwise unverifiable business activities.  With these political and corporate veneers now stripped away, it's odd that Thomas is still so willingly duped.

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NYT Op-Ed Columnist Still Fooled By Norman Hsu's Bogus Investor Pitch

In a piece that manages simultaneously to pooh-pooh luxury brands like Gucci and Prada for supriously manufacturing their ostensibly high-end, European goods in China and to castigate the "xenophobic" brand executives who seem to believe Chinese manufacture indicates lower quality, New York Times op-ed columnist and Newsweek cultural correspondent Dana Thomas supports the former claim with a questionable source.

[The high] prices are worth it, we are told, because these goods are handmade in Europe by artisans. In fact, that is not always the case — as we learned from the recent news reports on the activities of Norman Hsu, the Democratic political fund-raiser indicted on charges of investment fraud. Mr. Hsu told potential clients that he would use their money to finance the manufacturing of Gucci and Prada items in China — and promised a 40 percent return on the investment.

This was surprising, given that both brands have long maintained that they do not produce their wares there. A Prada spokesman reiterated it when the Hsu news broke, telling Women’s Wear Daily that Prada does not manufacture its products in China — though if you look inside one of Prada’s popular nylon toiletry cases, you’ll sometimes find a small tag that states otherwise.

Thomas may not have fully understood the nature of "the Hsu news", because at the heart of matter is the allegation that Hsu's apparel activities were wholly fictional.  The "charges of investment fraud" relate to an alleged Ponzi scheme, in which the only business being done was the recruitment of more investors (and the occasional flood of contributions to dozens of Democratic candidates).  I visited Hsu's stated places of business back in September and failed to find not only a bustling apparel conglomerate, but any trace of Hsu or his many business entities.

That's not to say Gucci and Prada aren't using Chinese labor - just that the allegation is poorly supported by parroting Hsu's phony claims.  Dozens of investors were hoodwinked by Hsu, a mistake that has left them tens of millions of dollars poorer.  At the time, his A-list political affiliations and the impressive early returns he generated for his investors were enough to overshadow Hsu's otherwise unverifiable business activities.  With these political and corporate veneers now stripped away, it's odd that Thomas is still so willingly duped.