And how was Hsu able to continue organizing multimillion-dollar financial schemes despite a trail of business failures and disappointed, often accusatory, investors? After all, he had no obvious source of income and had gone bankrupt twice.
An examination of court documents and financial reports -- as well as interviews with government officials, business associates and others who dealt with Hsu -- suggests that the people who say he deceived them were lulled by a remarkable combination of personality traits and shrewdly constructed illusions.
With a gregarious if self-effacing demeanor, Hsu had a knack for winning friends and inspiring confidence. Classmates at UC Berkeley remember him as extremely popular. A manager at the Red Square bar at Mandalay Bay, where Hsu took the Clinton aides, said he was known as "a very friendly guy" who was nice to the staff.
A slight figure in exquisite suits, Hsu spoke softly and exuded an air of unthreatening success, associates say.
And beginning sometime around 2003, Hsu seemed to hit on a system for further leveraging those personal assets.
By living on a lavish scale, he convinced associates that he was backed by great personal wealth. He also made a point of doing favors. He would provide hard-to-get dinner reservations at exclusive restaurants, or bestow elegant gifts on associates. Clinton confidant Solis Doyle got a coveted, and pricey, designer handbag -- a gift that made her so uncomfortable she returned it.
Even as he was ingratiating himself, Hsu used his ready access to the world of celebrity politics to enhance his credibility with potential business investors. And some investors said he or his associates pressured them to make campaign contributions, further cementing Hsu's standing in the political world.
Several investors admitted they were agog when Hsu took them to fundraising parties with the likes of Barbra Streisand and Steven Spielberg.
"This guy took us to huge events," one woman said. "We thought he was for real."
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Friends lost money
In the late 1980s, Hsu began promoting an investment syndicate involving apartments. A group of former Berkeley classmates and other friends invested up to $50,000 each.
As some of them remember Hsu, he was an appealing figure with a poignant life story. An emigre from Hong Kong, he was apparently alone in the world after his parents died, yet he showed enough pluck to graduate from Berkeley in 1973 and earn an MBA from the Wharton business school eight years later.
