After Oil Boom, A Gusher Of Investment-Fraud Cases
数千名在油气价格飙升时希望参与分享这一行情的投资者最终成了欺诈案的受害者。目前美国联邦和州监管部门正在着手解决此事。
Thousands of investors who sought a piece of the action when oil and gas prices were soaring fell victim to fraudulent schemes that federal and state regulators are now scrambling to address.
美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)说，有能源投资者起诉称，怀疑他们在2004年至2007年期间多次受骗，去年差点又落入圈套。尽管SEC拒绝透露确切的数字，但从法院文件中可以了解到，数千名投资者将数亿美元投入到了欺诈性的投资中。
The Securities and Exchange Commission says that complaints from energy investors who suspect they were swindled more than doubled between 2004 and 2007, and were on pace to double again last year. Though the agency declined to produce exact figures, it is clear from court documents that thousands of investors sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into fraudulent investments.
这些骗子通常是欺骗性的私人钻井合伙公司，投资者购买这些公司油井的少数股份，希望能在今后获得开采权益收入。随着油价快速下跌，这种简单的把戏现在已不那么流行了。原油价格已从去年7月每桶147美元的高点跌至如今的37美元。但当时的繁荣所带来的后果现在才真正感受到。
The offenders were typically fraudulent private drilling partnerships, in which investors buy small stakes in wells in the hopes that they will produce royalty income for years. Such sketchy offerings are less prevalent these days, with oil prices in the midst of a precipitous slide: The price of a barrel of crude oil has fallen from a peak of $147 in July to $37 today. But the fallout from the boom is only now being felt full force.
受害者遍布美国各地。肯塔基州证券部门主任斯托德(Jim Strode)说，我们在这个问题的处理上确实面临着很严峻的时刻。斯托德说他的办公室近期展开了10项油气方面的调查，其中大多涉及数十名甚至数百名投资者。同样，科罗拉多州证券专员约瑟夫(Fred Joseph)说，在他所在的州，油气目前仍是骗子盛行的领域。
Victims are spread across the country. 'We've had a real hard time getting a handle on it,' says Jim Strode, Kentucky's securities division director. Mr. Strode says his office currently has more than 10 open oil-and-gas investigations, most involving dozens and even hundreds of investors. Likewise, Colorado securities commissioner Fred Joseph says oil and gas is still 'the fraud du jour' among seasoned con men in his state.
去年11月，SEC组建了一个新的小组协调检察工作，并培训调查人员如何发现欺骗性的油气投资产品。这个小组中包括SEC的调查人员以及代表得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、阿肯色州、俄克拉荷马州和堪萨斯州的机构。
In November, the SEC convened a new task force to coordinate prosecutions and train investigators on how to spot fraudulent oil-and-gas offerings. The task force includes investigators from the SEC, as well as agencies representing Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
尽管存在固有的风险，但大多数私人钻井合伙公司都是合法的，一些金融规划师也会推荐它们，原因是税收方面的优势，包括能够冲减部分钻井成本、抵消一定比例的收入。
While inherently risky, most private drilling partnerships are legitimate, and some financial planners recommend them because of their tax advantages, which include being able to write off drilling costs and offset a percentage of income received.
尽管多年来油价持续上涨，但去年，随着石油价格创出新高、天然气大幅上涨及股市下跌，骗局的市场条件也趋成熟。个人投资者因此更容易落入能源项目推销者的圈套。
Though oil prices had been rising for years, the market became ripe for fraud in the past year, as oil prices climbed to their peak, gas prices similarly soared, and the stock market headed downward. That made individual investors particularly susceptible to pitches from energy promoters.
SEC驻得克萨斯州沃思堡执行主任罗梅罗(Rose Romero)说，受害者多是55岁左右、关心油价，担心退休金不够花的人。
The average victim is 'the 55-year-old watching the news ticker and worried if his retirement fund is going to be enough,' says Rose Romero, director of operations for the SEC's Fort Worth, Texas, office.
监管机构常常可能难以判断欺诈与风险投资失利的区别。得克萨斯州证券专员克劳福德(Denise Voigt Crawford)说，关键是要证明推销人员承诺的资金使用与实际用途不同。
It can often be difficult for regulators to determine what constitutes fraud as opposed to a risky investment gone bad. The key is to prove a departure between what the promoters promised to do with the money raised versus what they actually did, says Denise Voigt Crawford, the Texas securities commissioner.
在有些欺诈案中，推销方根本没钻井；而有些情况下，这些推销者把过多的钱投在销售佣金和其他与生产无关的内部开销上。还有的完全是“庞氏骗局”， 在这种骗局要么被有关部门查处、要么自己灭亡之前，早期投资者收到的高回报都来自于从新投资者那里筹集到的资金。
In some fraud cases, the promoters never drill at all; in others, they devote a disproportionate amount to sales commissions and other in-house expenses not related to production. Still others are mere Ponzi schemes in which early investors are paid high returns with money raised through new investors until the pyramid is either discovered by authorities or collapses on its own.
监管机构表示，一个共同点就是推销者拿走了巨额利润，而投资者的投资收益却很少或是根本没有。
The common element, regulators say, is that promoters walk away with hefty profits while investors get little or no return on their money.
6 月份，SEC关闭了堪萨斯州维契托的Consolidated Management Group LLC，并且对公司9名管理人员提起了民事诉讼，称他们涉嫌参与一桩庞大的油气欺诈案，从,1,300多名投资者手里诈取了1.56亿美元。SEC表示，这起案件涉及一个由22家合资企业组成的网络，其中一家宣称可以利用钻井平台短缺的形势，把旧钻井平台整修一下租赁出去。36岁的丹佛地图绘制员丹?贾布隆卡(Dan Jablonka)说，对我来说，这听起来很容易。他在这家公司投资将近10万美元。
In June, the SEC shut down Consolidated Management Group LLC of Wichita, Kan., and filed a civil lawsuit against nine of its officers for what it described as 'a massive oil and gas fraud' involving $156 million taken from more than 1,300 investors. The operation involved a web of 22 joint ventures, including one that claimed to take advantage of the shortage of drilling rigs by refurbishing old rigs and leasing them out, according to the SEC. 'That, to me, sounded like a no-brainer,' says Dan Jablonka, a 36-year-old Denver mapmaker who invested close to $100,000 with the company.
在SEC还原的电话会议记录中，销售人员向潜在投资者承诺每年最高可达40%的回报，还可以在即将进行的公开发售中获得股份。而实际上根据SEC的文件，这家公司及其关联公司只给了投资者 700万美元的回报，而9名管理人员的工资和佣金却有1,800万美元。贾布隆卡收回的投资将近有7万美元。作为与SEC和解协议的一部分，这9名管理人员同意接受强制令，冻结资产并最终分发给投资者，不过他们不承认有任何违法行为。记者未能联系到相关官员置评。
The SEC recovered transcripts of conference calls in which salesmen promised prospective investors annual returns of up to 40%, plus a stake in an upcoming public offering. In fact, Consolidated and its affiliates returned only $7 million to investors while paying the nine officers $18 million in salary and commissions, SEC documents allege. Mr. Jablonka recovered almost $70,000 of his investment. As part of a settlement with the SEC, the nine officers agreed to an injunction while their assets were frozen and ultimately distributed to investors, though they did not admit to any wrongdoing. The officers could not be reached for comment.
欺诈案调查人员都知道诈骗高手会利用媒体报导的重大消息进行诈骗。克劳福德说，正是这点导致了石油钻井案件的激增，也似乎是替代能源相关案件越来越多的原因。
It's a truism among fraud investigators that scam artists follow the headlines. That is what led to the surge in oil-drilling cases and seems to be behind a growing number of complaints regarding alternative-energy plays, Ms. Crawford says.
油气欺诈案的受害者往往要很长时间后才会站出来揭露骗局。原因之一是，他们可能要过上数年时间才会意识到自己被骗了。此外，他们也不愿承认自己那么容易上当受骗。不过专家指出，推销者使用的光鲜的宣传册、震撼性的图片报告和专业化的募股说明书的确很让人动心。
The victims of oil-and-gas fraud are often slow to come forward. For one, it can take several years before they realize they've been had. They're also sheepish about their own gullibility. However, experts note that the glossy brochures, seismic imaging reports and professionally drafted prospectuses that promoters use are persuasive.
Brad Reagan
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