Donald Trump faces renewed scrutiny of the riches that flowed into his real estate empire from the former Soviet Union after a fixer for a Kazakh family accused of pumping dirty money into US property agreed to assist an international investigation into his former business partners.
从前苏联流入唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)房产帝国的财富使其面临新的审查。一个被指控向美国房地产大量投入黑钱的哈萨克家庭的代理人同意协助针对前商业伙伴的国际调查。
Felix Sater, a Russia-born dealmaker with organised-crime connections who worked on ventures including Trump Soho in Manhattan, has attracted attention in recent months as efforts continue to chart the links between the US president’s circle and moneymen from Russia and its neighbours.
出生于俄罗斯的费利克斯?萨塔尔(Felix Sater)是一名与有组织犯罪有关联的交易掮客，他曾经效力的项目包括位于曼哈顿的特朗普休南酒店(Trump Soho，见文首照片)。最近几个月，随着调查特朗普圈内人士与来自俄罗斯及其邻国的权贵人士之间关系的努力继续推进，萨塔尔引发了外界的关注。
In October the Financial Times revealed that Mr Sater had helped the family of Viktor Khrapunov, a former Kazakh minister now exiled in Switzerland, invest millions in US property through front companies. The Khrapunovs have spent heavily across the US, including, records indicate, buying apartments in Trump Soho.
去年10月，英国《金融时报》曾披露，萨塔尔曾协助如今流亡瑞士的哈萨克前部长维克托?赫拉普诺夫(Viktor Khrapunov)家族，通过幌子公司向美国房地产投资巨款。记录显示，赫拉普诺夫家族在美国各地出手阔绰，包括在特朗普休南酒店购买公寓。
Mr Khrapunov is accused by Kazakhstan’s rulers of embezzling government funds and hiding the cash around the world. Kazakh authorities claim the Khrapunovs’ laundering schemes also funnelled money from a fellow dissident, Mukhtar Ablyazov, an oligarch accused of stealing billions of dollars from a bank.
哈萨克斯坦当政者指控赫拉普诺夫挪用政府资金，并将钱藏匿于世界各地。哈萨克当局声称，赫拉普诺夫家族的洗钱计划还帮助该国异见人士穆赫塔尔?阿布利亚佐夫(Mukhtar Ablyazov)转移资金，后者是一名寡头，被指控从一家银行窃取了数十亿美元。
Mr Sater has agreed to co-operate with an international investigation into the alleged money-laundering network, five people with knowledge of the matter said. The co-operation hasincluded working with a team of lawyers and private investigators pursuing civil cases acrossthree continents, the people said. Mr Sater declined to comment.
据五位知情人士透露，萨塔尔已同意与针对这一涉嫌洗钱网络的国际调查进行合作。他们表示，合作包括与一队律师和私人调查人员联手在三大洲打民事官司。萨塔尔拒绝发表评论。
In Kazakhstan, as in other former Soviet states, Mr Trump’s sprawling business intereststhreaten to impinge on the president as he manages US foreign policy commitments in theregion.
在哈萨克斯坦，同在其他前苏联国家一样，特朗普触角广泛的商业利益威胁着他作为美国总统对该地区的外交政策责任。
The alleged Kazakh launderers — not the US president or Mr Sater — are the main focus of theinvestigation, said Matthew Schwartz of Boies Schiller Flexner, a US law firm working on theprobe. However, the eight-year probe has already offered a rare glimpse of the inner workingsof a US property market that Treasury department officials warn is awash with dirty money. Ithas raised questions about what steps Mr Trump has taken to check whether tainted fundsare coursing through his properties.
参与此次调查的美国律师事务所Boies Schiller Flexner的马修?施瓦茨(Matthew Schwartz)表示，涉嫌的哈萨克洗钱者——而非特朗普或萨塔尔——才是此次调查的重中之重。然而，这一长达8年的调查早已提供了窥探美国房地产市场内部运作的难得机会。美国财政部官员警告称，美国的房地产市场充斥着黑钱。调查还引发了人们对特朗普已采取何种措施核查是否有黑钱通过其房地产生意洗白的质疑。
