那些隐迹于纽约奢华公寓的全球富豪(3)

In court papers, Mr. Malkin vehemently denied involvement in organized crime, calling the allegations by the Canadian authorities unsupported and noting that he had been free to travel to other countries. Mr. Malkin sued the Canadian authorities, and in June 2009 a judge ruled that the case should be reviewed because Mr. Malkin had not been given a chance to respond to the allegations.

法庭文件显示，马尔金极力否认参与了有组织犯罪，称加拿大当局的说法没有依据，并指出自己前往其他国家时皆畅通无阻。马尔金起诉了加拿大当局，2009年6月，一名法官裁定应对该案进行重审，因为马尔金早前没有回应相关指控的机会。

Mr. Malkin was allowed to visit Canada in 2012, his lawyer, Gregory Sidlofsky of Toronto, said in an email, adding, “Canadian authorities never had nor provided any evidence of any wrongdoing by Mr. Malkin.” In the Angola debt case, he said, Swiss investigators ultimately found no wrongdoing. Mr. Sidlofsky said the $48.8 million was a dividend reflecting his client’s share of the intermediary company. As for the long-running renovation of the Time Warner condo, he said, “Mr. Malkin does not own the apartment, nor has he had any recent involvement in the renovation.”

马尔金在多伦多的律师格雷戈里·希德洛夫斯基(Gregory Sidlofsky)在电子邮件中说，马尔金于2012年获许进入加拿大，并表示，“加拿大当局从未掌握或提供任何证据，表明马尔金有任何不端行为。”他说，在安哥拉债务一事中，瑞士调查结构最终也并未发现马尔金有不端行为。他说，那4880万美元是其当事人在该公司所持股份带来的分红。至于时代华纳中心那套共管公寓长时间翻修一事，他表示，“马尔金不是那处公寓的所有人，近期也未参与任何翻修。”

The American Bar Association suggests that government officials like Mr. Malkin warrant enhanced scrutiny in real estate deals, but its guidelines are voluntary. Marc Isaacs, the New York lawyer who handled the condo purchase, said his firm’s client vetting goes beyond an online search, but he would not elaborate. Asked about Mr. Malkin, Mr. Isaacs said he could not discuss specific clients.

美国律师协会(American Bar Association)表示，在房地产交易中，肯定应该对马尔金这样的政府官员给予更密切的关注，但该机构的指导方针是自愿执行的。经手那宗共管公寓交易的纽约律师马克·伊萨克斯(Marc Isaacs)表示，他所在的律所对客户的审核不只是在线搜索而已，但他不愿详细解释。在被问及马尔金时，伊萨克斯表示自己不能讨论某个具体客户。

The real estate agents on the Time Warner deal included Brenda S. Powers and Elizabeth L. Sample, who represent many foreign clients and who live in the building. Ms. Sample said that her focus when vetting buyers was this: “They have to have the money. Other than that, that’s it. That’s all we need.”

负责时代华纳中心那笔交易的房产经纪是布伦达·S·鲍尔斯(Brenda S. Powers)和伊丽莎白·L·桑普尔(Elizabeth L. Sample)，她们就住在楼里，代理了许多外国客户。桑普尔表示，在审核买家时她关注的重点是：“他们必须要有买房的钱。其他的就算了。我们只需要知道这一点。”

A Blind Eye

不闻不问

Federal banking guidelines are clear: “Banks should take all reasonable steps to ensure that they do not knowingly or unwittingly assist in hiding or moving the proceeds of corruption.” This means screening customers to determine whether they are “politically exposed people” — foreign officials and their relatives and associates — and filing a “suspicious activity report” if the customers transfer unusually large amounts of money.

联邦银行业指导原则说得很明白：“银行应采取一切合理措施，确保不会在有意或无意中，协助隐藏或转移外国高级政治人物及其亲友通过腐败获得的收入”。也就是说，银行应对客户进行审查，查明他们是否是“政治敏感人物”——外国官员及其亲友——并在客户转移巨额资金时，提交“可疑活动报告”。

But such checks are not required on money flowing into the country through shell companies to purchase high-end real estate.

但通过空壳公司流入美国并购买高端房地产的资金，并未被要求接受这类审查。

L.L.C.s and other entities can be established in various states without revealing their true owners. Even when such companies move money through a bank account, banks are not required to know who is behind the transaction because of a loophole in the law.

在很多州，有限公司和其他企业实体成立时都可以不透露其实际所有人。因为法律漏洞，即便在这类公司通过银行账户转移资金时，银行也未被要求知晓相关交易的背后都有什么人。

In many ways, the government has allowed the real estate industry to turn a blind eye to the source of money used to buy luxury properties.

在很多方面，政府允许房地产行业对购买豪华房地产的资金的来源不闻不问。

It might not have turned out this way. In the late 1990s, after congressional hearings highlighted corrupt foreign officials with money in the United States, the Justice Department sought to expand the list of industries required to screen the financial activities of politically exposed people. That included jewelry sales, hedge funds and real estate.

这种局面本来可以避免。上世纪90年代末，在多次国会听证会让外国腐败官员将钱转移至美国的问题突显出来后，司法部(Justice Department)寻求扩充行业名单，要求被列入名单的行业审查政治敏感人物的财务活动。该名单本应包括珠宝商、对冲基金和房地产商。

The proposal gained momentum after Sept. 11, when the Justice Department pushed to make it part of the Patriot Act. The rules were included in the law and handed to the Treasury Department to put into effect.

9·11事件后，这项提案赢得了更多的支持。司法部推动其成为《爱国者法案》(Patriot Act)的一部分。相关规定被写进了法律，并被转交给财政部执行。

The real estate and legal professions sprang into action, arguing that background checks were impractical and would hurt the economy. “The money-laundering risks presented by real estate closings are relatively small, compared to other types of financial assets,” the American Land Title Association said in comments on the proposed rules.

房地产和法律行业迅速行动起来，声称背景审查不切实际，且会损害经济。“和其他类型的金融资产相比，房地产交易带来的洗钱风险相对较小，”美国土地产权协会(American Land Title Association)在对监管规则提案的意见书中说。

Businesses insisted that tainted money was not likely to flow into real estate. “Anonymity and liquidity, two characteristics important to money launderers, typically do not exist in real estate transactions,” the Dechert law firm wrote.

相关企业则坚称，不法资金不太可能流入房地产市场。“对洗钱者十分重要的匿名和流动性这两个特征，在房地产交易中往往不存在，”德杰律师事务所(Dechert)写道。

The industry’s assertions ignored the increasing use of shell companies and how often wealthy foreigners sought out high-end real estate as a safe deposit box.

该行业的论断忽略了空壳公司的使用越来越普遍，以及富有的外国人常寻找高端房地产，将其作为安全的存款箱。

At the Time Warner Center, for instance, at least a dozen purchases would have received greater scrutiny under the expanded rules.

比如，在时代华纳中心，若按照扩充后的规定，至少有12笔交易本应受到更严格的审查。

But the Treasury Department never imposed the requirement on real estate or some other industries. Similarly, a proposal to extend the concept of the “know your customer” banking rule to the identities of people behind L.L.C.s and other shell companies that open bank accounts has been stalled for nearly three years in the Treasury Department.

但财政部从未对房地产或其他行业实行这一要求。同样地，另一项提议也已在财政部搁置了近三年。该提议要求将有限公司及其他开设银行账户的空壳公司背后的人的身份，纳入银行业“了解客户”规定的范围。

Banking associations say it would impose undue costs on them because there are no reliable federal or state databases with shell company owners.

银行业协会表示，这么做会给它们带来高昂的成本，因为没有可靠的联邦或州一级空壳公司所有人数据库。

In fact, registering shell companies has become profitable for states like Delaware and Nevada, which also have lobbied against transparency.

实际上，对游说反对透明的特拉华和内华达等州来说，注册空壳公司已变得有利可图。

“I don’t see some kind of global effort to stop all this because the money’s too good,” said David M. Crane, a Syracuse University law professor who oversaw the United Nations’ effort to recover money from Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president who was convicted of war crimes and thought to have plundered his country.

“我没看到有某种全球范围的努力来阻止这一切的迹象，因为收益实在太大了，”雪城大学(Syracuse University)法学教授戴维·M·克兰(David M. Crane)说。他曾经负责监督联合国从利比里亚前总统查尔斯·泰勒(Charles Taylor)那里追回资金的工作。泰勒被裁定犯有战争罪，还被外界认为对利比里亚进行了大肆掠夺。

A number of states do not require people forming companies to reveal the names of the owners or show any identification.

美国很多州并不要求开办公司的人透露所有者的姓名，或出示任何身份证件。

This opacity presents challenges for law enforcement officials, who say billions of dollars in suspicious money move through shell companies each year. “It can be very, very difficult to penetrate who is the beneficial owner of these shell companies,” said Leslie R. Caldwell, chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division.

这种不透明性对执法人员提出了挑战。美国司法部透露，每年通过本土空壳公司转移的可疑资金数以亿计。“非常、非常难以摸查到究竟谁是这些空壳公司的权益拥有人，”司法部刑事领域负责人莱斯莉·R·考德威尔(Leslie R. Caldwell)说。

She said that the department’s Kleptocracy Initiative has found that foreign officials often use shell companies or immediate family members to move large amounts of money to United States real estate.

她还表示，该部门的“反高层盗用国有资源项目”(Kleptocracy Initiative)经常发现，外国官员往往通过空壳公司或直系亲属，将大量资金投入美国的房地产行业。

In 2010, a Senate committee investigating corrupt money moving into the country drew attention to a shell company used by the sister of the president of Gabon to buy a $2 million residence in Manhattan, and to an L.L.C. used by the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea to purchase a $30 million home in Malibu, Calif.

2010年，参议院一个负责调查流入美国的贪腐款项的委员会披露，加蓬总统的姊妹利用一家空壳公司在曼哈顿购买了一处价值200万美元的居所，而赤道几内亚总统的儿子利用一家有限责任公司在加利福尼亚州马里布购买了一处价值3000万美元的房产。

The proliferation of shell companies incorporated in the United States has hurt Washington’s attempt to get other countries to crack down on Americans who move money offshore to avoid taxes.

美国政府试图让其他国家打击那些为了避税而把钱转移到海外的美国人。然而，在美国注册的空壳公司泛滥，削弱了华盛顿的这种努力。

“We are in a totally inconsistent position,” said Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who pushed for transparency in shell companies when he served in the Senate. “We’re way behind in terms of keeping up with what the International standard is, and it weakens our argument when we go to try to crack down the use of these offshore tax havens.”

“我们秉持的立场完全不统一，”曾在参议院推动空壳公司透明化的密歇根州民主党人卡尔·莱文(Carl Levin)说。“在紧跟国际标准上，我们远远落在后面。当我们试图打击美国人利用这些离岸避税天堂的活动时，这令我们的立场遭到削弱。”

About a year ago, after the Group of 8 industrialized nations issued goals requiring identification of shell company owners, a British representative met with Justice Department officials to complain about the United States’ failure to comply.

大约一年前，工业化国家组成的八国集团发布了要求明确空壳公司所有者的目标。之后，一名英国代表特意与美国司法部官员会面，抱怨美国没有遵循这些要求。

According to two people at the meeting, the British representative, Dominic Martin, delivered a stern message: The lax American laws were being used by other countries as an excuse for inaction.

两名与会者表示，英国代表多米尼克·马丁(Dominic Martin)传达了一条严厉的讯息：美国宽松的法律正在被其他国家用作不采取行动的借口。

Such a message resonates with Justice Department officials who have advocated tightening the rules.

主张收紧规则的司法部官员也有同样的看法。

“For a long time we’ve taken the view that you have to focus on the people that manage the gateway to the financial system, and those guys are not only the banks,” said Stefan Cassella, a Justice Department lawyer. “Bad guys who are trying to invest money in the financial system — they use lawyers, they use accountants, they use real estate, they use jewelers and private jets.”

“很长一段时间以来，我们都以为，必须把侧重点放在管理金融系统门户的那些人身上，但这不仅仅包括银行，”曾在司法部政策办公室任律师的斯特凡·卡斯拉(Stefan Cassella)说。该部门当时在谋求让《爱国者法案》采纳涵盖面更广的金融规则。“坏人试图将资金投入到美国金融体系中——他们会聘请律师和会计师，会利用房地产、珠宝和私人飞机。”

Transactions amid Investigations

调查正进行，交易仍如常

Just two months after the collapse of the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard L. Madoff in 2008, another Ponzi schemer was arrested: James Nicholson, whose Time Warner condominium was frozen. Mr. Nicholson’s $8.5 million unit would become the only one in the complex to be seized and sold off by law enforcement officials, even though other owners have been accused of wrongdoing. The difference is that Mr. Nicholson is an American citizen.

2008年，伯纳德·L·麦道夫(Bernard L. Madoff)的庞氏骗局崩塌短短两个月后，另一个庞氏骗局的主脑詹姆斯·尼科尔森(James Nicholson)遭到了逮捕，其位于时代华纳中心第52层的公寓也被查封。尼科尔森的这套公寓价值850万美元。它成为了楼中唯一一所遭执法官员收缴和抛售的公寓，虽然也有其他业主被指控从事了不法行为。所不同的是，尼科尔森为美国公民。

Foreigners who buy real estate in the United States often have an easier time keeping it out of the reach of investigators, victims and plaintiffs back home.

在美国购置房产的外国人，往往更容易避开本国的调查机构、受害者和原告对这些房产的追讨。

Take the case of Pablo Ardila, a former provincial governor in Colombia known for hunting trophies and lavish spending. Mr. Ardila acknowledged to The Times in 2004 that he and his parents had set up a shell company to buy a $4 million condo in the building. In 2007, while he was in office, Mr. Ardila was arrested and immediately jailed by local officials on charges of enriching himself illicitly.

巴勃罗·阿迪拉(Pablo Ardila)就是一个这样的例子。他曾是哥伦比亚的一名省长，出了名地喜欢战利品狩猎和奢侈消费。阿迪拉本人在2004年向时报承认，为了购买这栋大楼中一所售价400万美元的公寓，他和父母成立了一家空壳公司。2007年，当他还在任上时，哥伦比亚官员指控他中饱私囊，将其逮捕并随即监禁起来。

While Mr. Ardila was behind bars, the shell company sold the condo, making a $2 million profit. By then, the forwarding address on property records was no longer in Colombia, but went to a Jhon Ballesteros, in Weston, Fla. John Burger, a real estate agent who represented the seller, said recently that he did not know Mr. Ardila was involved.

当阿迪拉身陷囹圄时，这家空壳公司出售了这所公寓，赚取了200万美元的利润。到了此时，房产记录里登记的转发地址已经不再位于哥伦比亚，而是指向了佛罗里达州韦斯顿的霍内·巴列斯特罗斯(Jhon Ballesteros)。代表卖家的房地产经纪人约翰·伯格(John Burger)在接受采访时说，他甚至都不知道阿迪拉牵涉其中。

An extensive Colombian government analysis of Mr. Ardila’s holdings filed in court failed to unearth the Time Warner condo.

哥伦比亚政府向法庭提交了一份报告，对阿迪拉持有的资产进行了详尽的分析，但未能挖掘出这套位于时代华纳中心的公寓。

Despite international agreements, the authorities in smaller countries have difficulty recovering assets from abroad. “Judges in Colombia have been struggling a lot to get this money back to Colombia,” said Elisabeth Ungar Bleier, executive director of the Colombia branch of Transparency International, an anticorruption nonprofit.

尽管存在国际合作协议，但小国政府却难以从境外追回资产。“哥伦比亚的法官非常努力地想把这笔钱追回，”伊丽莎白·温加尔·布莱尔(Elisabeth Ungar Bleier)说。她是倡导反腐的非营利组织透明国际(Transparency International)哥伦比亚分部的执行总监。

Mr. Ardila was released from jail after two years and nine months without having been convicted. However, Arnulfo Mendez Castro, a spokesman for Colombian prosecutors, said Mr. Ardila was still under investigation.

在看守所待了两年零九个月后，阿迪拉获得释放，并未定罪。然而，哥伦比亚检察部门发言人阿努尔福·门德斯·卡斯特罗(Arnulfo Mendez Castro)表示，阿迪拉仍在接受调查。

Mr. Ardila’s lawyer, Mauricio Cristancho, said his client was the victim of “an absurd prosecution.” Despite what Mr. Ardila had told The Times about the condo, the lawyer said, the unit belonged to Mr. Ardila’s father, a wealthy businessman. He said Mr. Ballesteros, who did not reply to inquiries, was an assistant to the family.

关于这所公寓，不管阿迪拉对时报的说法如何，他的律师毛里齐奥·克里斯坦乔(Mauricio Cristancho)表示，公寓属于阿迪拉的富商父亲。他说，阿迪拉是“一起荒谬诉讼”的受害人，而巴列斯特罗斯是阿迪拉家族的一名助理。巴列斯特罗斯未回应询问。