浙江女商人林海燕因非法集資被判死刑

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.

中國法院判處一名女商人死刑，此前檢方指控說，她經營的一個龐氏騙局詐騙了投資者約7,000萬美元的資金，這件事使外界得以一窺中國地下銀行體系有可能被怎樣濫用以及相關違法者會受到怎樣的嚴厲處罰。

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.

本週刊登在溫州市法院網站上的一則聲明說，今年39歲的林海燕從2007年起開始向他人集資，她向投資者許諾能讓他們以低風險獲得高回報。溫州以其興旺發達的私營企業以及非正式的銀行體系而聞名。法院的聲明說，這一騙局於2011年10月被拆穿，林海燕無法歸還的集資款達人民幣4.28億元。

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

記者無法獲得代表林海燕的人士的置評。

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.

非正式信貸來源一直是中國小型私營企業的生命線，這些企業通常無法從中國正式的金融機構獲得貸款或其他形式的融資。但在未獲得監管機構批准的情況下集資用於投資是一個法律灰色地帶，政府部門有時會在投資者損失資金時對這種行爲予以嚴厲打擊。

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.

分析人士說，中國2009年爲應對全球金融危機而實施大規模經濟刺激後，有大量資金進入中國經濟體系，這加大了中國非正式放貸行業發放的貸款變成壞賬的可能，因爲私人金融家們都在忙着給自己手中增加的資金尋找投放去處。中國非正式渠道發放的貸款頻頻出現壞賬使中國地下放貸業引起了社會的關注，促使中國最高領導人呼籲要讓這一行業在陽光下運行，並呼籲銀行增加對小企業的貸款。

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，中國最高法院推翻了對浙江另一名女商人吳英的死刑判決，此前中國人對於判處吳英死刑在網上提出了大量抗議。吳英曾經將她經營的一家美甲店發展成她所在地區的一家大型企業，她於2009年被判死刑，此前法庭認定她詐騙了11名投資者人民幣3.8億元的資金。吳英的律師堅持說，吳英集資來的錢都被投資到真正的企業裏去了。

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.

中國最高審判機構最高人民法院的的高級法官苗有水近日在一個新聞發佈會上說，截至今年4月底，中國從2011年以來已經有1,449名從事非法集資的人受到了嚴懲，這些懲罰包括死刑和五年以上有期徒刑。他說，在此期間總計有4,170人因同樣的經濟犯罪而被判刑。

'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.'

中國銀行業監督管理委員會紀委書記杜金富說，他對於控制住非法集資行爲的蔓延不表樂觀。他說，自己持這種態度的原因之一是非法集資事件的高發性，同時非法集資事件的發生範圍也在不斷擴大，大多數城市都有此類事件發生，受影響的人既有在職者也有退休者，既有富人也有窮人。杜金富還是中國打擊經濟犯罪問題的一個工作組的成員。

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.

根據該工作組的一份聲明，非法集資指的是在未經監管機構批准的情況下，以提供較高回報的方式公開從私人儲蓄者那裏募集資金。但反對中國在經濟案件運用死刑的一些組織說，該定義過於模糊，足以涵蓋許多企業所依賴的非正式貸款行爲。

'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.

舊金山的人權組織對話基金會(Dui Hua Foundation)今年2月在網站上的一份聲明中說，非法集資和私人借貸的區別仍然不明確。

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.'

中國並不正式發佈死刑數據，但對話基金會估計，2011年中國有4,000名犯人被執行死刑。中國的死刑率高於世界上任何其他國家。大赦國際(Amnesty International)已經不再發布中國的死刑數據，但該機構認爲，中國每年執行的死刑數以千計。

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，根據華盛頓的非營利組織死刑信息中心(Death Penalty Information Center)的數據，2011年美國僅有43人被執行死刑。

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.

根據溫州市法院的聲明，林海燕2008年5月設立了自己的投資公司，從朋友、同事、同學、親戚和鄰居等人那裏籌集資金。聲明中說，她告訴投資者資金將用於運作公司上市、打新股和銀行拉存等項目，實際上這些錢則被用於炒期貨、股票。她還使用新投資者的錢來償付前期集資款以及支付回報。

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.

聲明中說，在投資失敗之時，林海燕仍然在募集新的資金，直到2011年10月下旬因資金無法週轉而東窗事發。

'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.

法院聲明說，鑑於林海燕不能歸還的集資款規模巨大，而且這些錢並沒有用於實體經營，主要用於高風險個人投資，導致嚴重損失，對社會造成極大危害，其犯罪行爲應該被嚴厲懲處。