浙江女商人林海燕因非法集资被判死刑

A Chinese court sentenced a businesswoman to death after prosecutors accused her of running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of about $70 million, shining a light on potential abuses in China's underground banking system and the severe penalties they can draw.

中国法院判处一名女商人死刑，此前检方指控说，她经营的一个庞氏骗局诈骗了投资者约7,000万美元的资金，这件事使外界得以一窥中国地下银行体系有可能被怎样滥用以及相关违法者会受到怎样的严厉处罚。

According to a statement posted this week on the court website of the city of Wenzhou─known for its thriving private sector and informal banking networks─39-year old Lin Haiyan started soliciting funds in 2007, promising investors high returns at low risk. The scheme unraveled in October 2011, with Ms. Lin owing her private backers 428 million yuan, it said.

本周刊登在温州市法院网站上的一则声明说，今年39岁的林海燕从2007年起开始向他人集资，她向投资者许诺能让他们以低风险获得高回报。温州以其兴旺发达的私营企业以及非正式的银行体系而闻名。法院的声明说，这一骗局于2011年10月被拆穿，林海燕无法归还的集资款达人民币4.28亿元。

Representatives of Ms. Lin couldn't be reached for comment.

记者无法获得代表林海燕的人士的置评。

Informal sources of credit have long been the lifeblood of China's small private firms that typically can't access loans or other forms of finances from the country's formal financial institutions. But gathering funds to invest without regulatory approval is a legal gray area, and authorities sometimes crack down hard when investors lose money.

非正式信贷来源一直是中国小型私营企业的生命线，这些企业通常无法从中国正式的金融机构获得贷款或其他形式的融资。但在未获得监管机构批准的情况下集资用于投资是一个法律灰色地带，政府部门有时会在投资者损失资金时对这种行为予以严厉打击。

Analysts say a flood of cash that entered the economy following a massive stimulus push in 2009─China's response to the global financial crisis─exacerbated the potential for loans to go wrong in the informal lending sector as private financiers looked for places to put the additional cash. Such stumbles have put the underground lending sector under scrutiny, prompting calls from top Chinese leaders to bring it out in the open and for banks to broaden lending efforts to small businesses.

分析人士说，中国2009年为应对全球金融危机而实施大规模经济刺激后，有大量资金进入中国经济体系，这加大了中国非正式放贷行业发放的贷款变成坏账的可能，因为私人金融家们都在忙着给自己手中增加的资金寻找投放去处。中国非正式渠道发放的贷款频频出现坏账使中国地下放贷业引起了社会的关注，促使中国最高领导人呼吁要让这一行业在阳光下运行，并呼吁银行增加对小企业的贷款。

In April China's highest court overturned the death penalty for another businesswoman from the same region following a massive outpouring of protest online. Wu Ying, who turned a nail salon into a regional conglomerate, was sentenced to death in 2009 after being convicted of swindling 11 investors out of 380 million yuan ($60.3 million). Ms. Wu's lawyer maintained that the funds were invested in real businesses.

今年4月，中国最高法院推翻了对浙江另一名女商人吴英的死刑判决，此前中国人对于判处吴英死刑在网上提出了大量抗议。吴英曾经将她经营的一家美甲店发展成她所在地区的一家大型企业，她于2009年被判死刑，此前法庭认定她诈骗了11名投资者人民币3.8亿元的资金。吴英的律师坚持说，吴英集资来的钱都被投资到真正的企业里去了。

As of the end of April, 1,449 people had been 'seriously punished' a designation that includes the death penalty and more than five years imprisonment─for illegal fundraising since 2011, said Miao Youshui, a senior judge on the People's Supreme Court, China's highest judicial body, at a recent news conference. In total, 4,170 people were convicted over the same period for similar economic crimes, he said.

中国最高审判机构最高人民法院的的高级法官苗有水近日在一个新闻发布会上说，截至今年4月底，中国从2011年以来已经有1,449名从事非法集资的人受到了严惩，这些惩罚包括死刑和五年以上有期徒刑。他说，在此期间总计有4,170人因同样的经济犯罪而被判刑。

'I'm not optimistic' about controlling the spread of illegal fundraising, said Du Jinfu, the head of discipline inspection at China's banking regulator, and a member of a task force set up to tackle economic crimes. 'One factor is the high frequency of cases. Also, the scope is broadening, with cases appearing in most cities…It affects the employed and retired, the rich and the poor.'

中国银行业监督管理委员会纪委书记杜金富说，他对于控制住非法集资行为的蔓延不表乐观。他说，自己持这种态度的原因之一是非法集资事件的高发性，同时非法集资事件的发生范围也在不断扩大，大多数城市都有此类事件发生，受影响的人既有在职者也有退休者，既有富人也有穷人。杜金富还是中国打击经济犯罪问题的一个工作组的成员。

According to a statement from the task force, illegal fundraising refers to soliciting funds publicly from private savers by offering a high return without regulatory approval to operate. But groups that oppose China's use of the death penalty in economic cases say the definition is fuzzy enough to encompass the informal lending that many businesses depend upon.

根据该工作组的一份声明，非法集资指的是在未经监管机构批准的情况下，以提供较高回报的方式公开从私人储蓄者那里募集资金。但反对中国在经济案件运用死刑的一些组织说，该定义过于模糊，足以涵盖许多企业所依赖的非正式贷款行为。

'The distinction between illegal fundraising and private lending still remains unclear,' the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based human-rights group said February in a statement on its Web site.

旧金山的人权组织对话基金会(Dui Hua Foundation)今年2月在网站上的一份声明中说，非法集资和私人借贷的区别仍然不明确。

China doesn't publicly report execution figures, but Dui Hua estimates that 4,000 prisoners were executed in 2011. China's death-penalty rates are higher than any other country in the world, according to Dui Hua figures. Amnesty International no longer reports execution data from China, but believes the yearly figure is 'in the thousands.'

中国并不正式发布死刑数据，但对话基金会估计，2011年中国有4,000名犯人被执行死刑。中国的死刑率高于世界上任何其他国家。大赦国际(Amnesty International)已经不再发布中国的死刑数据，但该机构认为，中国每年执行的死刑数以千计。

By comparison, there were 43 executions in the U.S. in 2011, according to Washington nonprofit organization Death Penalty Information Center.

相比之下，根据华盛顿的非营利组织死刑信息中心(Death Penalty Information Center)的数据，2011年美国仅有43人被执行死刑。

According to the Wenzhou court's statement, Ms. Lin formally started her own investment company in May 2008, collecting funds from friends, colleagues, old classmates relatives, neighbors and others. The statement said she told investors that the funds were being invested in initial public offerings and share placements and even bank deposits, but instead she was speculating on futures and stocks, and using money raised by new investors to pay older clients their promised return.

根据温州市法院的声明，林海燕2008年5月设立了自己的投资公司，从朋友、同事、同学、亲戚和邻居等人那里筹集资金。声明中说，她告诉投资者资金将用于运作公司上市、打新股和银行拉存等项目，实际上这些钱则被用于炒期货、股票。她还使用新投资者的钱来偿付前期集资款以及支付回报。

Even as the investments turned sour, Ms. Lin continued to solicit new funds, the statement said. By October 2011 Ms. Lin could no longer cover up the extent of her cash-flow problems, it said.

声明中说，在投资失败之时，林海燕仍然在募集新的资金，直到2011年10月下旬因资金无法周转而东窗事发。

'Given the large amount of money that can't be returned [to investors], and that the money wasn't invested in productive activities but in highly risky personal investments that resulted in serious ety has been caused great harm and the crime deserves to be severely punished,' the court statement said.

法院声明说，鉴于林海燕不能归还的集资款规模巨大，而且这些钱并没有用于实体经营，主要用于高风险个人投资，导致严重损失，对社会造成极大危害，其犯罪行为应该被严厉惩处。