美国做空者拟对香港禁令上诉

Short-seller Andrew Left plans to appeal against a Hong Kong ruling that bans him from trading in the city for five years and would cost him at least $700,000.

做空者安德鲁.莱福特(Andrew Left)计划针对香港当局禁止他5年内进入香港市场的裁定进行上诉，该裁定将让他损失至少70万美元。

The ruling, handed down by Hong Kong’s Market Misconduct Tribunal on Wednesday, followed the tribunal’s finding in August that California-based Mr Left was culpable of misconduct in relation to the 2012 publication of a research report on Hong Kong-listed Chinese property developer China Evergrande.

香港市场失当行为审裁处(Market Misconduct Tribunal)周三作出了上述裁定，此前，审裁处8月时曾认定，居住在美国加州的莱福特在2012年发布的在港上市中国房地产开发商恒大地产(Evergrande)的一份研究报告中存在失当行为。

“The decision was not appropriate, and I’m going to appeal it,” he said yesterday. “I think it’s a real step backwards for markets in Hong Kong.”

“这个裁决不合理，我要提起上诉，”莱福特昨天表示，“我认为这实际上是香港市场的倒退。”

The case was the first instance of the city’s regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, pursuing the author of unregulated published commentary.

此案是香港证监会(SFC)首次对随意发布评论的始作俑者进行追究。

In August the tribunal found that Mr Left, who runs Citron Research, used “sensationalist language” and made allegations that were “false and misleading”.

今年8月，审裁处裁定香橼(Citron Research)负责人莱福特使用“夸张的言词”作出了“虚假和具有误导性”的指控。

Evergrande’s shares dropped as much as 20 per cent on the day the report was published, and closed down 11 per cent.

报告发布当天，恒大地产股价一度暴跌高达20%，收跌11%。

The tribunal noted that Mr Left did not seek comment from Evergrande before publishing — a step often taken by professional journalists but not widely by other commentators.

审裁处指出，莱福特在发布报告前并未向恒大征求意见——专业记者往往会这样做，但其他评论人士一般不会。

In a ruling late on Wednesday, the tribunal issued a five-year “cold shoulder” order — the maximum it can impose — that bars Mr Left from trading in the Hong Kong market.

审裁处在周三晚些时候作出的裁决中，对莱福特发出了5年内禁入香港市场的禁令，这是该庭可以强制施加的最长期限。

It ordered Mr Left to disgorge his profits from trading in Evergrande and pay costs. His profits were HK$1.6m ($206,000) while the costs from the SFC, which brought the case, totalled HK$3.96m.

审裁处还勒令莱福特交出做空恒大所得的利润，并承担此案的法律费用。莱福特获利160万港元（合20.6万美元），而香港证监会为提起本案共花费396万港元。

The government’s costs have not yet been calculated.

香港政府的花费还未计算在内。

The tribunal granted a “cease and desist” order against Mr Left. This means a future breach could be dealt with in criminal court rather than as a civil case.

审裁处对莱福特发出了“禁止令”。这意味着，未来再违规的话可能遭遇刑事官司，而不再是民事案件。

The case has been closely watched by commentators and hedge funds which feared that a finding against Mr Left could have put a chill on their freedom of expression, what one described as the right to “honestly held but incorrect opinion”.

此案受到了评论人士和对冲基金的密切关注，他们担心对莱福特不利的裁定可能对他们的言论自由造成寒蝉效应，有人将此形容为“诚实持有的不正确观点”的权利。

The Citron case followed a victory by the SFC against Moody’s, the rating agency, earlier this year over a report that looked at “red flags” in Chinese company accounts.

在香橼案之前，香港证监会今年早些时候在对评级机构穆迪(Moody’s)一份报告提起的诉讼中获得了胜利。报告分析了一些中国企业账目中的“红旗”警示信号。

The report was presented as market commentary, not ratings work, but the regulator considered it to be the latter, which is regulated in Hong Kong.

该报告以市场评论（而非评级工作）的形式发布，但监管机构认定它是后者，因而要受到监管。

The SFC has maintained that its case against Mr Left was based on market manipulation.

香港证监会坚称，对莱福特的裁定是基于他的市场操纵行为作出的。