“天堂文件”到底是啥？

11月5日，一份被称为“天堂文件”的名单，公布了各国政客、跨国企业、富豪藏在海外的财富清单。名单中既有英国女王，也有特朗普政府高官、加拿大总理密友、哥伦比亚总统等政界名人，也有苹果、Facebook等科技巨头，还有斯坦福、哥伦比亚大学等世界名校。  

他们利用各类金融工具和金融手段，将财富转移到某些具有税收优惠甚至免税的境外小岛上，使自己的部分资产躲避税务官员的审查，或者通过幕后交易来隐藏一些秘密交易行为。而这些藏起来的资产，就可以少交一大笔税。因此，这些在税收政策上极度优惠的地方，也被称为“避税天堂”。

Millions of Leaked Files Shine Light on 

Where the Elite Hide Their Money

有关“天堂文件”，你应该知道的人和事

The New York Times

纽约时报

It's called the Paradise Papers: the latest in a series of leaks made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shedding light on[1] the trillions of dollars that move through offshore tax havens.

它被叫做“天堂文件”(Paradise Papers)：国际调查记者同盟(International Consortium of Investigative Journalists，简称ICIJ)公开的一系列泄密文件中最新的一批，让通过离岸避税天堂流动的数万亿美元曝光。

[1]shed light on: Something or someone that casts/sheds/throws light on a situation provides an explanation for it or information that makes it easier to understand. 为…提供解释；使…较容易理解 

As an economist, he was able to shed some light on the problem. 

作为经济学家，他能解释清楚这个问题。

The core of the leak, totaling more than 13.4 million documents, focuses on the Bermudan law firm Appleby, a 119-year old company that caters to blue chip[2] corporations and very wealthy people. Appleby helps clients reduce their tax burden; obscure their ownership of assets like companies, private aircraft, real estate and yachts; and set up huge offshore trusts that in some cases hold billions of dollars.

此次泄露的文件超过1340万份，其核心聚焦在百慕大的毅柏律师事务所(Appleby)。这家拥有119年历史的公司服务于蓝筹股公司及异常富有的人士。它帮助他们减轻税务负担；隐匿名下资产，例如公司、私人飞机、房地产和游艇等；并且建立起大型离岸信托，某些信托持有数十亿美元。

[2]蓝筹股（Blue Chips）是指稳定的现金股利政策对公司现金流管理有较高的要求，通常将那些经营业绩较好，具有稳定且较高的现金股利支付的公司股票称为“蓝筹股”。

蓝筹股多指长期稳定增长的、大型的、传统工业股及金融股。“蓝筹”一词源于西方赌场，在西方赌场中，有三种颜色的筹码、其中蓝色筹码最为值钱。

相应的还有红筹股（Red Chips）是指在中国境外注册、在香港上市的带有中国大陆概念的股票。“带有中国大陆概念”主要指中资控股和主要业务在中国大陆。

The New York Times is part of the group of more than 380 journalists from over 90 media organizations in 67 countries that have spent months examining the latest set of documents.

国际调查记者同盟由来自67个国家、90多家媒体的380多名记者组成，它已花费数月来调查这批最新的文件。《纽约时报》也是其中一员。

As with the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers leak came through a duo of reporters at the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and was then shared with I.C.I.J., a Washington-based group that won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the millions of records of a Panamanian law firm. The release of that trove of documents led to the resignation of one prime minister last year and to the unmasking of the wealth of people close to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

像“巴拿马文件”一样，“天堂文件”也是通过《南德意志报》(Süddeutsche Zeitung)的两位记者泄露了出来，之后共享给I.C.I.J，这家位于华盛顿的组织曾因报道一家巴拿马律所数百万份档案而获得普利策奖。那批文件的公开在去年导致一名总理辞职，并且揭开了与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)亲近人士的财富。

This week, The New York Times is publishing articles on the Paradise Papers that were reported in cooperation with our I.C.I.J. partners. Here is a roundup of the stories that have already been made public.

本周，《纽约时报》正在发表与我们的I.C.I.J.伙伴共同报道的关于“天堂文件”的文章。以下是目前已经公之于众的故事的综述。

The Times's Coverage So Far

《纽约时报》截至目前的报道

• Behind one of Silicon Valley's most prominent investors, Yuri Milner, was hundreds of millions of dollars in Kremlin funding. The documents show that Mr. Milner's investment in Twitter relied on money from VTB, bank controlled by the Russian state. One of his most significant investors in Facebook relied on funding from Gazprom Investholding, another government-controlled institution. Mr. Milner is also an investor in Cadre, a New York-based real estate technology company founded by Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser.

• 硅谷著名投资人尤里·米尔纳(Yuri Milner)的背后有来自克里姆林宫的数亿美元资金。天堂文件显示，米尔纳对Twitter的投资依赖的是俄罗斯政府控制的VTB银行的资金。他在Facebook上最主要的一位投资者所依赖的是另一个政府控制的机构——俄气投资(Gazprom Investholding)的资金。米尔纳同时也是特朗普总统的女婿、白宫顾问贾里德·库什纳(Jared Kushner)创立的纽约地产科技公司Cadre的一位投资者。

• Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary, invested in a shipping company whose top clients include a Russian firm controlled by an oligarch[寡头政治家；寡头统治集团成员] facing sanctions and President Vladimir V. Putin's son-in-law. The ethics agreement Mr. Ross filed when taking office said he intended to retain several investment partnerships, but did not specify that they were used to hold his stake in the shipper, Navigator Holdings. The revelations of Mr. Ross's continued investment led Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, to call for an investigation. Mr. Ross said he had done nothing wrong, but would "probably" sell his Navigator shares.

• 商务部长威尔伯·罗斯(Wilbur Ross)投资的一家航运公司的最重要客户中包括一家俄罗斯公司，后者由一名面临制裁的寡头以及俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·V·普京(Vladimir V. Putin)的女婿控制。罗斯在就职时提交的道德协议中表示，他打算保留与几家公司的投资伙伴关系，但没有说明它们是被用来持有他在该航运公司——领航控股(Navigator Holdings)的股份。罗斯继续投资的消息曝光后，康涅狄格州民主党参议员理查德·布鲁门塔尔(Richard Blumenthal)呼吁对罗斯进行调查。罗斯称，他没有任何不当行为，但“可能”会卖掉自己在领航控股的股份。

• Apple has come under scrutiny by Congress for shifting much of its earnings to Irish subsidiaries, avoiding income taxes. Documents from the leak show that after its chief executive, Tim Cook, said that the company didn't just "stash[3] money on a Caribbean island," it found a new tax haven — an island in the English Channel. The use of complex offshore structures have helped keep much of Apple's more than $128 billion in profit abroad free from taxation. The technique isn't unique to Apple. "U.S. multinational firms are the global grandmasters of tax avoidance schemes," said Edward Kleinbard, a former corporate tax adviser to such companies.

• 由于将自己的大部分收益转移到了爱尔兰的子公司以逃避所得税，苹果公司(Apple)已经引起了国会的注意。泄露文件显示，在苹果的首席执行官蒂姆·库克(Tim Cook)表示不会只是“把钱藏在一个加勒比海岛”之后，该公司发现了一个新的避税港——英吉利海峡的一个岛屿。苹果通过使用复杂的离岸结构，使自己的逾1280亿美元海外利润免于交税。这种手法并非苹果独有。“美国的跨国公司是全球避税计划的大师，”曾在这类公司担任企业税顾问爱德华·克莱恩巴德(Edward Kleinbard)说。

[3]stash: to store something secretly or safely somewhere

储藏，存放；隐藏

stash sth away

He has money stashed away in the Bahamas. 

他把钱藏在巴哈马。

[+ in/under]

You can stash your gear in here. 

你可以把你的装备存放在这里

• A bank in Utah is in the business of helping wealthy foreigners register private planes in the United States, which requires American citizenship or residency. The offshore files shed light on how a small financial institution, the Bank of Utah, served as a stand-in[顶替者，代替者]for citizenship purposes to allow Russia's richest man, Leonid Mikhelson, whose energy company is subject to sanctions, register a $65 million Gulfstream jet.

• 犹他州的一家银行在帮助富有的外国人在美国注册私人飞机，这是一项需要美国国籍或居留权的手续。离岸文件显示，小型金融机构犹他银行(Bank of Utah)作为公民身份的替身，帮助俄罗斯顶级富豪列昂尼德·米赫尔松(Leonid Mikhelson)注册了一架价值6500万美元的湾流飞机(Gulfstream)。米赫尔松的能源公司正受到制裁。

• The fortunes of the world's richest people are growing at a rate far faster than for everyone else. One reason is that they are so adept at shielding their money from taxes through the use of offshore companies and trusts. Queen Elizabeth II and pop stars like Bono and Madonna have all taken advantage of offshore companies, Appleby records show. Americans are big customers: The hedge fund billionaire James H. Simons and his family were beneficiaries of a massive trust in Bermuda. Mr. Simons quietly transferred his share to a Bermuda-registered charitable foundation that now has about $8 billion in assets. And Warren A. Stephens, who aggressively grew a family investment bank in Arkansas, used an opaque company to hide his stake in a payday loan company accused of exploiting the poor.

• 世界上最富有的人的财富增长速度远远快于其他人。一个原因是，他们非常善于利用离岸公司和信托机构来让自己的资产免于交税。毅柏律师事务所的记录显示，英国女王伊丽莎白二世(Queen Elizabeth II)以及博诺(Bono)和麦当娜(Madonna)等流行歌星都曾利用离岸公司避税。美国人是大客户：掌管对冲基金的亿万富翁詹姆斯·H·西蒙斯(James H. Simons)及其家人是百慕大一个大型信托机构的受益人。西蒙斯悄悄地将自己的股份转让给了一家在百慕大注册的慈善基金会，该基金会目前拥有约80亿美元的资产。沃伦·A·斯蒂芬斯(Warren A. Stephens)在阿肯色州大力发展一个家族投资银行，他利用一家不透明的公司隐藏自己在一家发薪日贷款公司的股份，该公司被指剥削穷人。

[“天堂文件”曝光了哪些名人？]

节选自《纽约时报》