伦敦鲸事件疑云未散尽 真相疑云重重

It was, the British judge said, an odd request. While most traders would be relieved that the UK Financial Conduct Authority had stopped investigating them, here was a trader demanding that it continue.

在一位英国法官看来，这是一个奇怪的请求。大多数交易员都会因英国金融市场行为监管局（Financial Conduct Authority，简称FCA）停止对他们的调查而感到松一口气，有一位交易员却要求该局继续调查。

The trader was Julien Grout, formerly of JPMorgan Chase, who had been caught up in the 2012 fiasco that centred on a character known, because of the size of his market bets, as the “London whale”.

这位交易员就是摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase)的前员工朱利安•格劳特(Julien Grout)，他卷入了2012年的那起丑闻中。该丑闻的主角被称为“伦敦鲸”，原因是他的市场投机规模巨大。

Mr Justice Males, the judge, last week denied Mr Grout’s application for judicial review of the FCA’s decision to stop pursuing him. The FCA said it saw no point because, among other things, he already faced criminal charges in the US.

法官贾斯蒂斯•马莱斯(Justice Males)日前驳回了格劳特要求对FCA停止调查他的决定进行司法审查的申请。FCA表示没什么可调查的，因为他已在美国受到了刑事指控。

Mr Grout’s demand that the FCA carry on investigating him is only one of many odd features of the London whale case. To extend the piscine metaphor, the whole thing smells.

格劳特希望FCA继续调查他的要求只是“伦敦鲸”事件中众多奇怪现象之一。可以说，整条“鲸鱼”都散发着奇怪的气味。

The case dates back to JPMorgan’s decision in 2006 to begin trading in synthetic credit derivatives. By the beginning of 2012, the bank’s London traders were sitting on huge losses.

这起事件可以追溯到2006年摩根大通决定开始进行合成信贷衍生品交易。到2012年初，该行驻伦敦的交易员已出现巨额亏损。

Up until then, the traders had been valuing the derivatives at the midpoint of the daily range of prices. As losses spiralled out of control, a US Senate report later said, they began using prices away from the midpoint that hid the scale of the potential damage.

直到那时，他们一直将这些衍生品的估值定在每日价格区间的中间点。美国参议院后来的一份报告称，随着亏损扩大至失控，他们开始利用偏离中间点的定价来掩盖潜在损失的规模。

The report named three London-based traders as being involved: Bruno Iksil (the “London whale”), Javier Martin-Artajo, his superior, and Mr Grout, described by Mr Justice Males as “Mr Iksil’s assistant”.

该报告指出了涉案的三名驻伦敦交易员的姓名：布鲁诺•伊克希尔（Bruno Iksil，即“伦敦鲸”）及其上级哈维尔•马丁-阿塔霍(Javier Martin-Artajo)，还有被马莱斯称为“伊克希尔助理”的格劳特。

Mr Grout’s lawyers say that he acted “in accordance with the bank’s prior practices and the instructions given to him by his superiors”.

格劳特的律师们称，他是“按照该行的惯例以及上级给他的指示”进行操作的。

When it began questioning Mr Grout in 2013, the FCA, in the words of his lawyers, “compelled [him] to attend upon them and answer questions”.

当格劳特在2013年被FCA质询时，用他的律师的话说，FCA“强迫（他）随侍左右并回答问题。”

Had he been questioned by the US authorities, he would have been able to refuse to answer on the grounds that he might incriminate himself.

如果质询他的是美国当局，他可以以可能自证己罪为由拒绝回答。

The FCA gave transcripts of his interviews to the US authorities. In 2013, a US grand jury indicted Mr Grout and Mr Martin-Artajo for conspiracy, falsifying books and records and causing false statements to be made in JPMorgan’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

FCA将与他的谈话记录交给了美国当局。2013年，一个美国大陪审团指控格劳特和马丁-阿塔霍串谋、伪造账簿和记录，并造成了摩根大通提交给美国证券交易委员会(SEC)的文件中的虚假陈述。

Mr Iksil, the whale, has not been indicted. He has been given immunity from US prosecution in return for giving evidence against Mr Martin-Artajo and Mr Grout.

伦敦鲸伊克希尔一直没被起诉。他已在美国被免于起诉，以换取他提供指证马丁-阿塔霍和格劳特的证据。

Mr Grout’s lawyers said the reason he wanted the FCA to continue its investigation was that he wanted the chance to clear his name.

格劳特的律师们表示，他希望FCA继续调查的原因，是希望有机会洗刷自己的罪名。

But, Mr Justice Males said, he would have the opportunity to do that in the US. “I would expect a United States jury to be alert to the implications of Mr Iksil’s status as a ‘protected witness’ enjoying immunity from prosecution and alive to any unfairness which may result from any sense that the minnow is facing the full weight of the criminal law while the whale has escaped justice,” he said.

但马莱斯说，格劳特将有机会在美国做到这一点。“我希望美国的陪审团警惕伊克希尔作为‘受保护证人’享受免于起诉的影响，并注意任何的不公平，任何小鱼受到了刑法的严惩而巨鲸却逃过了审判的感觉，都可能带来这种不公，”他说。

But that is to assume that a US criminal trial is a fair contest in which the prosecution has to persuade the jury of the accused’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

但这要假设美国的刑事审判是一场公平竞赛，控方必须以确凿无疑的证据说服陪审团被告有罪。

That view is a mirage. This is not my description. It is that of Jed Rakoff, a US judge, who wrote an essay in the New York Review of Books entitled “Why Innocent People Plead Guilty”.

这种想法是一种幻觉。这不是我所描述的。这是美国法官杰德•雷科夫(Jed Rakoff)的评价。他在《纽约书评》(New York Review of Books)上撰写了一篇题为“为何无辜之人会认罪”(Why Innocent People Plead Guilty)的文章。

Faced with the prospect of a long prison sentence if they were convicted, 97 per cent of those facing US federal trials agreed to a plea bargain, confessed their guilt and accepted a shorter sentence “effectively dictated by the prosecutor”, Judge Rakoff wrote.

面对自己如果被判有罪将被长期监禁的后果，97%的面临美国联邦审判的人同意了认罪辩诉协议，承认自己的罪行并接受“实际上由公诉人决定的”较短刑期，雷科夫法官写道。

What of JPMorgan? It has been found highly culpable on both sides of the Atlantic. The FCA fined the bank £137.6m. In the US, the authorities have imposed penalties on JPMorgan over the whale affair totalling $700m.

摩根大通的情况如何？英国和美国都认定应对它予以严厉处罚。FCA罚了该行1.376亿英镑。在美国，当局因整个“伦敦鲸”事件已对摩根大通进行了共计7亿美元的处罚。

The US Senate report said JPMorgan’s response had been “incomplete, contained numerous inaccuracies, and misinformed investors, regulators and the public”. No top JPMorgan executive has been charged over the affair or the statements to regulators and investors.

美国参议院的报告称，摩根大通的回应“不全面、包含许多不确切的地方而且误导了投资者、监管机构和公众”。没有任何摩根大通的高管因这一事件、或者对监管机构和投资者提交的报告而受到指控。

Mr Martin-Artajo is in Spain, where he is resisting extradition. If Mr Grout were in the UK, he would be doing the same. Judging by the fate of others the US has demanded, he would eventually be put on a plane to America in handcuffs.

马丁-阿塔霍目前在西班牙，正在抵制引渡。如果格劳特在英国的话，他也会这样做。据其他美国所要之人的命运判断，他最终将被戴上手铐并押上飞往美国的飞机。

But Mr Grout is French and he has gone home. His country does not extradite its citizens to the US. All I can say, in this case at least, is vive la France.

但格劳特是法国人，而且已经回国。法国不向美国引渡自己的公民。至少在这件事上，我不得不欢呼：法兰西万岁！