纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国富豪覃辉承认移民欺诈并以他人名义向纽约政客捐款

A Chinese business titan pleaded guilty on Monday to federal charges that he made more than $10,000 in straw donor contributions to political candidates — including, a person familiar with the case said, to a New York congressman and Mayor Eric Adams.

一位中国商业巨头周一对联邦指控表示认罪，即他向政治候选人提供了超过1万美元的稻草捐赠（以他人名义作为渠道，捐出超出辖区法律规定限额的竞选捐款——译注），一位熟悉此案的人士称，其中包括向一名纽约州联邦议员以及纽约市长埃里克·亚当斯提供的捐助。

Hui Qin, 56, of Old Westbury, N.Y., who was once listed on Forbes magazine’s list of billionaires, ran a now-defunct entertainment business called SMI Culture. But he has been in federal custody since the fall, when he was arrested at an apartment he kept at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan on charges of using fake identification.

现年56岁的覃辉住在纽约州老韦斯特伯里，曾名列《福布斯》杂志亿万富豪榜，经营着一家名为星美文化、现已停业的娱乐公司。但他自去年秋天以来一直被联邦拘留，当时他在曼哈顿广场酒店的一间公寓里被捕，罪名是使用虚假身份证件。

Mr. Qin asked others to contribute to political campaigns of his choosing, and he agreed to reimburse them, in 2021 and 2022, according to prosecutors. The other figures who received donations were Representative Andrew Garbarino of Long Island and Allan Fung, a former mayor of Cranston, R.I., who ran for Congress, the person familiar with the case said. Both are Republicans, while Mr. Adams is a Democrat.

据检察官称，覃辉于2021年和2022年让其他人为他选择的政治竞选活动捐款，实际则由他付款。熟悉此案的人士说，其他收到捐款的人是长岛联邦众议员安德鲁·加巴里诺和曾竞选国会议员的罗得岛克兰斯顿市前市长冯伟杰。两人都是共和党人，而亚当斯市长是民主党人。

Mr. Qin concealed his activities from the officials he was raising money for, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. As a result, they unwittingly filed false reports.

根据此案的一份刑事起诉书，覃辉对他为之筹款的官员隐瞒了他的活动。结果，他们在不知情的情况下提交了虚假的捐款报告。

Breon S. Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Qin had admitted to “engaging in a brazen web of deception” that spread lies to the authorities overseeing elections.

美国纽约州东区检察官布雷恩·皮斯在一份声明中表示，覃辉承认“参与了一个无耻的欺骗网络”，向监督选举的当局散布谎言。

“Ensuring election integrity and rooting out campaign contribution fraud are priorities of the Department of Justice,” Mr. Peace said in a statement. “No one is above the law, no matter their wealth or station in society.”

“确保选举的公正和根除竞选捐款欺诈是司法部的优先事项，”皮斯在一份声明中说。“没有人可以凌驾于法律之上，无论其财富多少或社会地位如何。”

Vito Pitta, Mr. Adams’s lawyer for his 2021 campaign, said, “As the federal government made clear today, the campaign had no knowledge of a straw donor scheme — and no member of the campaign has been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing.”

亚当斯2021年竞选活动的律师维托·皮塔称：“正如联邦政府今天明确指出的，我们竞选团队对该稻草捐赠计划毫不知情，也没有任何竞选团队成员被指控或控告有任何不当行为。”

Mr. Fung and Representative Garbarino did not respond to requests for comment.

前市长冯伟杰和众议员加巴里诺没有回应置评请求。

Mr. Qin’s legal woes go far beyond the charges to which he pleaded guilty in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., on Monday. In September, Mr. Qin was arrested by the police in Nassau County, who charged that he had tried to attack his ex-wife, with whom he still lived, before she was scheduled to testify in a civil case against him in Manhattan federal court.

覃辉的法律困境远不止周一他在纽约州中伊斯利普联邦法院认罪的指控。去年9月，他在纳索县被警方逮捕，警方指控他试图袭击前妻，此前他的前妻计划在曼哈顿联邦法院针对他的民事案件中出庭作证，两人当时仍住在一处。

He had tried to bash open a locked door with an ax in the September episode, which came months after another attack in which he attempted to strangle her, prosecutors said.

检察官称，在9月的袭击事件中，覃辉曾试图用斧头砸开一扇锁着的门，而在此几个月前，他还曾在另一起袭击中试图勒死前妻。

Mr. Qin was being sued in Manhattan by a Chinese investment management group to enforce a $450 million foreign arbitration award against him. He was alleged to have transferred ownership of his Long Island home to his ex-wife and ex-mother-in-law for only $10 after arbitration began in China.

覃辉在曼哈顿被一家中国投资管理集团起诉，要求执行针对他的4.5亿美元的外国仲裁裁决。据称，在中国的仲裁开始执行后，仅以10美元的价格，他就将长岛住宅的所有权转让给了前妻和前岳母。

He also pleaded guilty on Monday to immigration fraud and producing false identification. He had also used the name Muk Lam Li for years, but omitted that information on his green card application, prosecutors said.

他还在周一承认了移民欺诈和出示虚假身份证件的罪名。检察官表示，他多年来一直使用“李木林”这个名字，但在申请绿卡时却遗漏了这一信息。

As part of a deal with prosecutors, he agreed to leave the United States after serving his sentence. His sentencing is set for May 14; prosecutors said they would ask the judge for a sentence no longer than six months if Mr. Qin abides by the terms of the plea agreement.

作为与检察官达成的协议的一部分，他同意在服刑期满后离开美国。他的宣判定于5月14日进行；检察官表示，如果覃辉遵守认罪协议的条款，他们将请求法官判处不超过六个月的刑期。

A lawyer for Mr. Qin, Henry Mazurek, said his client was pleased that the case had been resolved.

覃辉的律师亨利·马祖里克表示，他的当事人对案件得到解决感到高兴。

“After years of investigation, the government’s case resulted in a plea in which they recommended no more than six months’ imprisonment,” he said. “Mr. Qin is happy to have this case behind him and looks forward to re-establishing his business career outside the United States.”

“经过多年的调查，政府对此案做出了认罪判决，并建议不超过六个月的监禁，”他说。“覃先生很高兴能了结此案，并期待着在美国以外的地方重新开始他的商业生涯。”

Mr. Adams’s campaigns and his administration have become the focus of several investigations.

亚当斯市长的竞选活动及其市政府已成为多项调查的焦点。

In September, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicted Eric Ulrich, Mr. Adams’s former senior adviser and then buildings commissioner, on charges of taking bribes. In November, F.B.I. agents searched the home of the mayor’s inexperienced chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, as well as the homes of Rana Abbasova, an aide in Mr. Adams’s international affairs office, and Cenk Öcal, a former Turkish Airlines executive who served on the mayor’s transition team.

去年9月，曼哈顿地区检察官办公室的检察官以受贿罪起诉了亚当斯的前高级顾问、当时担任建筑专员的埃里克·乌尔里希。去年11月，联邦调查局特工搜查了市长缺乏经验的首席筹款人布里安娜·苏格的住所，以及亚当斯国际事务办公室助理拉娜·阿巴索瓦、曾在市长过渡团队任职的土耳其航空公司前高管岑克·厄卡尔的住所。

Days later, agents stopped Mr. Adams on the street, asked his security detail to step aside and seized his electronic devices, part of a criminal inquiry into whether his 2021 campaign conspired to funnel illegal foreign donations into his coffers.

几天后，调查人员在街上拦住亚当斯市长，要求他的保镖站到一旁，并没收了他的电子设备，这是对他在2021年的竞选活动中是否合谋将非法外国捐款注入其资金库的刑事调查的一部分。

For investigators, straw donors have been a recurring theme.

对调查人员来说，稻草捐赠者是一个反复出现的主题。

In February, Dwayne Montgomery, a retired police inspector who had been friendly with the mayor, pleaded guilty to conspiring to direct straw donors to the mayor’s campaign. Two other donors named in the same indictment, the brothers Shahid Mushtaq and Yahya Mushtaq, pleaded guilty in October.

今年2月，与亚当斯市长交好的退休督察德韦恩·蒙哥马利承认密谋向市长的竞选活动提供稻草捐赠。同一份起诉书中提到的另外两名捐款人沙希德·穆什塔克和叶海亚·穆什塔克兄弟已于去年10月认罪。