那些隱跡於紐約奢華公寓的全球富豪(2)

It is no more transparent inside. There are no door buzzers or mail slots with residents’ names. You are unlikely to bump into neighbors wandering the halls because only about a third of the owners live there at any one time, according to people familiar with their comings and goings. The building’s annual holiday party is a lonely affair, they say.

而建築內部一樣不甚透明。當你走進時代華納中心的共管公寓範圍內，你會發現這裏既沒有門鈴，也沒有帶有戶主姓名的信箱。熟悉戶主出入情況的人說，你不太可能在走廊裏撞見閒逛的鄰居，因爲無論何時都只有大約三分之一的業主住在公寓裏。他們說，大樓每年的節日聚會都冷冷清清。

“It’s a really closely guarded secret who is in that building,” said Al D’Elia, an architect who has worked there. “It’s just the way they treat you, what you have to do to get in the building.”

曾經在那裏工作的建築師阿爾·德埃利亞(Al D’Elia)說，“那棟大樓裏究竟住了什麼人，簡直就是一個被嚴格保守的祕密，”曾經在那裏工作的建築師阿爾·德埃利亞(Al D’Elia)說，“從他們接待你的方式，進入大樓的手續就能看出來。”

The hallways are spare, but many apartments are loaded with the sort of amenities that have become standard in luxury real estate: panoramic views, stone bathtubs and custom everything — sound systems, millwork, lighting fixtures.

走廊裏空空如也，但許多公寓裏的設施則符合豪宅的標準配置：開闊的視野、石材浴缸，全部家當都是訂做的——音響系統、木製門窗、照明裝置。

Even the numbering of the floors was a bit of upwardly mobile sleight of hand, calibrated to enhance the perception of what the developer, the Related Companies, marketed as “Five Star Living.” So, the 80th-floor penthouses are actually on 53.

就連樓層的編號方式也別出心裁，強化了開發商Related Companies提出的“五星級居住環境”的營銷概念。因此，標註爲第80層的頂層公寓實際上是在53層。

The building’s layout and protocols facilitate anonymity. There are multiple entrances to its 192 condos — not just through the two towers’ main doors, but also through an adjacent parking garage and through the Time Warner Center shops. And while the building has a book listing the names of people associated with units, the owners do not have to be listed for them to get access to the building. They could walk in alongside someone whose name is in the book. Or, if they are cleared to visit, they could enter the complex through the shops or the hotel, and then take the secure elevators to the condos.

大樓的格局和規則也爲業主隱藏身份信息提供了便利。這192套共管公寓有多個入口——不光是兩棟大樓的大門，還可以通過一個附近的車庫，以及時代華納中心內的商鋪進入。儘管物業有一本與各單元有關的人員名冊，業主們沒有把名字錄進去同樣可以進入樓內。他們可以和名字在手冊上的人一起進入大樓，也可以通過商鋪或酒店進入大樓，然後乘坐安全電梯進入公寓，只要一名業主說他們是訪客就可以。

“An owner could be obscured from our view,” said David Spector, who helped manage the condos until 2011.

“業主完全可以避開我們的視線，”2011年之前參與管理這些公寓的戴維·斯佩克特(David Spector)說。

Over the decade since the Time Warner condos came on the market, high-end real estate sales in general have become increasingly opaque. In 2003, one-third of the units sold in Time Warner were purchased by shell companies. By 2014, that figure was over 80 percent.

在時代華納中心的這些公寓掛牌銷售以來的10年裏，高端房地產銷售整體上已經變得越來越不透明。2003年，時代華納中心售出的所有單位中，超過三分之一被空殼公司所購買。到了2014年，這個比例超過了80%。

Across the United States in recent years, nearly half the residential purchases of over $5 million were made by shell companies rather than named people, according to data from First American Data Tree analyzed by The Times.

時報分析的First American Data Tree的數據顯示，最近幾年，在美國各地超過500萬美元的住宅交易中，將近一半的買主是空殼公司，而不是實名的個人 。

Public records, dating back to at least the 1800s in New York, set real estate apart as more transparent than bank accounts or stock portfolios. “There’s a whole Jeffersonian rhetoric about land ownership,” said Hendrik Hartog, a professor of the history of American law at Princeton. “There was a goal to make land transparent, and it was justified by civic values and a whole range of moral judgments like not hiding ownership.”

一些可以至少追溯到19世紀的公開記錄曾顯示房地產交易比銀行賬戶或股票投資更爲透明。“對於土地所有制有着傑斐遜式的表述，”普林斯頓大學美國法律史教授亨德里克·哈託格(Hendrik Hartog)說，“目標是讓土地透明，支撐這個目標的是公民價值，以及不應該隱瞞土地所有權這樣的一系列道德判斷。”

One type of corporate structure now commonly used in real estate transactions, limited liability companies, or L.L.C.s, did not even exist in the United States before the late 1970s. At first, they were primarily used by oil and gas traders in Wyoming to shield individual owners from liability — if, say, a well worker was hurt — and to avoid taxation of both the company and the investor.

有限責任公司是目前在房產交易中被普遍使用的一種公司結構，這種結構直到上世紀70年代之後纔在美國出現。起初，使用這種公司結構的主要是懷俄明州的油氣交易商，目的是讓公司的所有者免除責任——比如在礦井工人受傷時——以及避免政府對公司和投資者徵稅。

Nothing in the genesis of limited liability companies suggested they would be used to purchase personal real estate, said Susan Pace Hamill, a University of Alabama professor who worked on L.L.C. policy while at the Internal Revenue Service in the 1990s. However, L.L.C.s are now commonly used in real estate for privacy, wealth transfer or shared ownership.

阿拉巴馬大學(University of Alabama)教授蘇珊·佩斯·哈米爾(Susan Pace Hamill)說，有限責任公司誕生伊始，並沒有哪一點顯示它將被用來購買個人房產。她上世紀90年代曾在美國國稅局(Internal Revenue Service)研究過有限責任公司的政策。然而目前，有限責任公司在房地產領域被普遍用來保護隱私、轉移財富或是分享所有權。

What becomes clear combing real estate records is that many Time Warner buyers have taken even greater steps, beyond using L.L.C.s, to keep their names out of sight. On many deeds, the line for the buyer’s signature is left blank, is illegible or is signed by a lawyer or other representative. Phone numbers are registered under lawyers’ names; the owner’s line on renovation permits is signed by Time Warner staff members; tax statements are addressed to the L.L.C.s.

在對房地產記錄的梳理中，我們可以清晰地發現，除了使用有限責任公司進行交易，爲了隱藏自己的身份，時代華納中心的許多業主還動用了更多辦法。在許多房契上，購買者的簽名一欄都是空白的、難以辨認的，或者由律師及其他代表代簽的。可能會透露業主真實信息的公開記錄中則充滿了虛假信息。電話號碼是用律師的名字申請的；提交給紐約樓宇局(New York’s Department of Buildings)的維修表格上的業主信息是時代華納的員工代簽的；稅務報表上的地址則寫着有限責任公司的名字。

And because most of the sales are in cash, there are few mortgage statements, another public document that might identify an owner or trigger scrutiny.

由於多數交易是現金全款購買，幾乎沒有按揭貸款的單據。此類單據本來是另一種可能透露業主信息或引發嚴密審視的公開記錄。

A spokeswoman for the Related Companies, Joanna Rose, said the developer had followed all federal and local laws in its sales at the Time Warner Center, adding, “With all of our sales, we know the identity of the purchasers.”

Related Companies的發言人喬安娜·羅斯(Joanna Rose)說，在時代華納中心公寓的銷售中，開發商遵守了所有聯邦和地方法律。她補充說，“對於每一筆交易，我們都瞭解了購房者的身份信息。”

However, documents and interviews with a half-dozen people involved in the sales show that in many cases, the company did not know the actual source of the money behind the sales.

然而，對參與公寓銷售的六名工作人員的採訪以及一些文件顯示，在許多時候，公司並不知道交易背後的真實的資金來源。

David J. Wine, the former vice chairman of the Related Companies, spoke bluntly of the lack of concern with buyers’ identities. “You pretty much go by financial capacity,” Mr. Wine said. “Can they afford it? They sign the contract, they put their money down with no contingency and they close. They have to show the money, and that is it. I don’t think you will find a single new developer where it’s different.”

Related Companies的前副董事長戴維·J·瓦恩(David J. Wine)直言不諱地表示，他們並不在乎購房者的身份 。“你主要是看他們的財務實力，”瓦恩說，“他們買得起嗎？他們簽了合同，交了錢，交易就完成了。他們必須證明自己有錢，這是最重要的。我不認爲哪個開發商會有不同的做法。

Real estate agents say commitment to anonymity is essential. “One thing of being a high-end broker is we have to protect the privacy of our clients,” said Hall F. Willkie, president of Brown Harris Stevens. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have them as clients. We’re very much like private bankers in that sense.”

房地產中介稱，隱私方面的承諾十分重要。“作爲一名高端經紀商就意味着，我們必須保護客戶的隱私，”Brown Harris Stevens公司的總裁哈爾·F·威爾基(Hall F. Willkie)說。“如果我們不這樣做，我們就不能得到這些客戶。從這個意義上講，我們很像私人銀行家。”

The shift to secrecy also reflects a fundamental change in the ownership structure of luxury real estate in New York. Many of Manhattan’s finest addresses were traditionally organized as co-ops in which residents were joint owners of the building. Co-op boards generally prefer full-time residents and often subject would-be buyers to excruciating scrutiny.

向保密做法的轉變反映出紐約房地產所有權結構的根本性變化。曼哈頓許多最好的地段傳統上一直以合作公寓的方式進行管理，在合作公寓，居民是建築的共同所有者。合作公寓委員會一般傾向於長期的住戶，有意購買合作公寓的買家需要接受嚴格的審查。

“Those co-ops wouldn’t accept billionaires, especially foreigners,” said Raphael De Niro, a broker at Douglas Elliman.

“這些合作公寓不接受億萬富豪，尤其是海外買家，”道格拉斯·埃利曼公司(Douglas Elliman)的經紀商拉斐爾·德尼羅(Raphael De Niro)說。

By contrast, Time Warner and most new luxury buildings are condos; residents own individual units and boards have less power to screen prospective buyers. In addition, at the Time Warner Center and many other buildings, if a condo board rejects a buyer, building rules say all the residents have to chip in to buy the unit, creating a disincentive for the board to be too picky.

相比之下，時代華納和多數最新的豪華建築是共管公寓；住戶擁有獨立的單位，委員會沒有那麼大的權力對潛在買家進行篩查。除此之外， 時代華納中心和其他許多樓盤的規定是，如果公寓委員會拒絕一位買家， 所有住戶需要湊錢買下這個單位， 因此委員會不會太挑剔。

“That’s the joy of the condos,” said Julie Maxey-Allison, an agent for Brown Harris Stevens. “That’s why the L.L.C.s buy them. It’s a way foreigners can do whatever they want here.”

“這就是共管公寓讓人高興的地方，”Brown Harris Stevens的房產中介朱莉·馬克西-艾利森(Julie Maxey-Allison)說。“正是這個原因，一些有限責任公司會購買它們。這樣的話，海外買家想怎麼樣都可以。”

In fact, interviews show, condo boards are not always aware of the individuals behind the shell companies.

事實上，一些採訪顯示，共管公寓委員會並不總是清楚空殼公司背後的具體個人是誰。

Seamus McMahon, a former Time Warner owner, said he had no idea units were sold to members of the Saudi royal family while he was on the board in 2006, including one connected to Princess Haifa bint Faisal, the daughter of a former Saudi king, and her husband, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former ambassador to the United States. A few years earlier, Princess Haifa had been in the news because of reports that some of her money had gone to a figure who aided the Sept. 11 hijackers. (The United States commission that investigated the attacks found no evidence that the money assisted the hijackers, either directly or indirectly.)

曾是時代華納中心業主的謝默斯·麥克馬洪(Seamus McMahon)表示，自己2006年擔任委員期間，並不知道有公寓被賣給了沙特的王室成員，包括與沙特前國王之女海法·賓特·費薩爾公主(Haifa bint Faisal)及其夫、前沙特駐美國大使班達爾·本·蘇丹王子(Bandar bin Sultan)有關聯的一套。早前幾年，因爲有報道稱，海法公主的部分資金流向了一個爲9·11事件中的劫機者提供援助的人，她受到了新聞媒體的關注。（美國負責調查9·11襲擊的委員會並未發現相關資金爲劫機者提供了幫助的證據，不管是以直接還是間接的方式。）

Mr. McMahon said the Related Companies did not usually share details about buyers with board members and did not inform them of the Saudi sale. “They probably asked to keep it quiet,” he said, referring to the Saudis. “Related would have kept it quiet.”

麥克馬洪說，Related Companies公司通常不會將買主的詳細情況向委員們通報，也沒有通知他們與沙特王室成員達成的那筆交易。“他們可能要求保密，”他指的是那對沙特王室夫婦。“Related Companies也會樂於保密的。”

Behind Door 74B

74B房間的內情

When the company with the complicated name of 25CC ST74B plunked down $15.65 million in 2010 for a condo in the Time Warner Center, there was no telling whose money was in play.

當名字複雜的25CC ST74B公司在2010年豪擲1565萬美元，買下時代華納中心的那套共管公寓時，沒有出現和出資方有關的信息。

But in January 2013, the company accused a contractor of overbilling in a classic New York City renovation dispute. The lawsuit identified the apartment’s owner as “Vitaly Malkin, a Russian senator who is domiciled in Russia and generally is not present in New York.” Less than two weeks later, a new complaint was filed with a change: It now said the apartment was owned by a trust whose beneficiaries included Mr. Malkin’s son, Leonid, and that Mr. Malkin was neither a trustee nor a beneficiary of the trust.

但2013年1月，該公司控告一家承包商要價過高，這是紐約市一樁經典的翻修糾紛。在該案中，公寓的所有人被指是“定居在俄羅斯，通常都不在紐約的俄羅斯參議員維塔利·馬爾金”。過了不到兩週，當事人重新提起訴訟，此時一個細節發生了變化：起訴書稱公寓的所有人是某信託基金，其受益人包括馬爾金之子列昂尼德(Leonid)，馬爾金既不是基金的受託人，也不是受益人。

In a deposition, a former employee of the contractor said that while he understood that the client was “the senator, the Russian oligarch,” he was not allowed to refer to the client by name. If he did use the family name, he said he was reprimanded and told “to make sure I just used 25CC.”

該承包商的一名前僱員在證詞中表示，他明白客戶是“那名俄羅斯寡頭參議員”，但他不能提這名客戶的姓名。他說，如果真的用了對方的姓氏，他會被訓斥，並被告知“一定只能提25CC”。

In fact, Vitaly Malkin had been in public view for more than a decade, sometimes tied to controversy.

實際上，在十多年的時間裏，維塔利·馬爾金一直處於公衆視野中，而且有時會牽扯爭議。

Mr. Malkin, 62, made a fortune in metals and banking and was one of the wealthiest members of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper legislative house. He resigned from the Council in March 2013 after Aleksei Navalny, the Russian anticorruption activist, revealed that he had failed to disclose property he owned in Canada and that he had dual Israeli citizenship.

今年62歲的馬爾金在金屬產業和銀行業發家，是俄羅斯議會上院聯邦委員會(Federation Council)最富有的議員之一。2013年3月，俄羅斯博客作者、活動人士阿列克謝·納瓦爾尼(Aleksei Navalny)指出，馬爾金沒有公開其在加拿大擁有房產，並持有俄羅斯和以色列雙重國籍。之後，馬爾金退出了聯邦委員會。

But the case that has dogged Mr. Malkin involves a 1996 deal to restructure Angola’s $5 billion debt to Russia, an arrangement that has become a symbol of official plundering in Africa among anticorruption advocates.

但困擾馬爾金的事件涉及1996年的一項協議，內容是對安哥拉欠俄羅斯的50億美元債務進行重組。在反腐倡導人士當中，這一安排成了官方在非洲掠奪財富的象徵。

The debt, incurred during Angola’s long civil war, was cut to $1.5 billion in a deal partly negotiated by Arcadi Gaydamak, a Russian-born businessman. But the debt payment was conveyed through an intermediary company in which Mr. Malkin had a share, according to documents from the Canadian government and Swiss investigators.

在該協議中，安哥拉在長期的內戰期間欠下的這筆債務，被減免至15億美元。協議在一定程度上是由生於俄羅斯的商人阿爾卡季·蓋伊達馬克(Arcadi Gaydamak)促成的。但加拿大政府和瑞士調查機構的文件顯示，債務償付是通過一家中介公司進行的，而馬爾金持有該公司的股份。

When Angola paid the debt, Mr. Gaydamak received $130 million of the payment and Mr. Malkin received $48.8 million, the documents show. A portion also went to various Angolan officials, including President José Eduardo dos Santos, who received $36 million, according to a report by the advocacy group Corruption Watch.

文件顯示，安哥拉償還了這筆債務後，蓋伊達馬克從中得到了1.3億美元，馬爾金獲得了4880萬美元。倡導團體腐敗觀察(Corruption Watch)發佈的一份報告顯示，還有一部分流向了衆多安哥拉官員，包括獲得了3600萬美元的安哥拉總統若澤·愛德華多·多斯桑托斯(José Eduardo dos Santos)。

Mr. dos Santos and Mr. Gaydamak did not respond to inquiries from The Times.

多斯桑托斯和蓋伊達馬克沒有迴應時報的詢問。

“Everyone knew exactly what happened,” Rafael Marques, an Angolan journalist and activist, said of the payment to the president. “That money was for personal enrichment. They were kickbacks.”

“所有人都知道到底發生了什麼，”安哥拉記者兼活動人士拉斐爾·馬克斯(Rafael Marques)在談論總統得到的那筆錢時說。“那筆錢被用於個人牟利。就是回扣。”

The episode became an issue for Mr. Malkin in 2007, when he tried to gain entry to Canada, where he had business interests. Two years earlier, a Canadian immigration official had deemed Mr. Malkin “inadmissible,” writing that he had “massively misrepresented” his net worth and how he obtained his assets, according to court documents obtained by The Times.

2007年，當馬爾金申請加拿大的入境許可時，此事成了一個問題。馬爾金在加拿大有商業利益。時報得到的法庭文件顯示，早前兩年，加拿大的一名移民官員認爲馬爾金屬於“不得入境”的人員，並寫道他“嚴重謊報”自己的淨資產，以及是如何取得這些資產的。

When Mr. Malkin reapplied in 2007, among the issues was his role as Mr. Gaydamak’s banker in the Angola debt deal, the documents show. In addition to facing questions in the debt deal, Mr. Gaydamak was under investigation in France in connection with arms sales to the Angolan government. He was later sentenced to three years in a French prison for money laundering and tax fraud.

相關文件顯示，馬爾金2007年再次申請時，出問題的是他長期爲蓋伊達馬克打理銀行事務這件事。除了因爲前述債務協議而受到質疑外，蓋伊達馬克還因爲涉嫌參與面向安哥拉政府的武器銷售，而受到法國的調查。後來，他因洗錢和稅務欺詐而被判在法國一所監獄服刑三年。

Canadian immigration officials again declared Mr. Malkin inadmissible, this time because of what they called an “extended association with persons suspected to be involved in organized crime and money laundering.”

加拿大移民官員再次宣佈馬爾金不得入境，並表示這一次是因爲馬爾金“與涉嫌參與有組織犯罪和洗錢的人員有廣泛聯繫”。