新闻周刊:萨特是特朗普的弃子还是幌子?(7)（在线收听）

In the early 2000s, not long after the war in Afghanistan began, Sater says he met Trump,

据萨特讲，2000年代早期，就在阿富汗战争开始后不久，他会见了特朗普，

thanks to his work for Bayrock, the real estate company.

这都得益于在房地产公司贝罗克集团工作。

(Neither the White House nor Cohen would comment for this story.)

（美国政府和科恩都拒绝对此发表任何评论。）

Sater raised money for Bayrock from, among others, a wealthy businessman from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan,

萨特为贝罗克集团筹措资金，其中一个来源是哈萨克斯坦（原苏联加盟共和国之一）的富商，

and he persuaded people in Trump's orbit—including Cohen, his old friend—to bring his deals before the boss.

萨特还在老板面前和包括老朋友科恩在内的特朗普阵营的人谈生意。

Two of the ideas worked out.

有两个想法奏效了。

Sater and the New York real estate mogul eventually worked on the Trump SoHo in Manhattan and a hotel

萨特和纽约房地产大亨特朗普最终达成合作，包括曼哈顿SoHo特朗普酒店、一家宾馆

and condo project in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which failed after the 2008 economic crisis.

以及佛罗里达州劳德代尔堡的公寓项目（此项目后在2008年经济危机后失败）。

He and Trump, Sater claims, were friendly but not particularly close.

据萨特称，萨特和特朗普保持友好关系但并未过分亲近。

As Abe Wallach, a former Trump Organization executive, once told the journalist Tim O'Brien,

前特朗普团队高管亚伯·瓦拉赫曾经在记者蒂姆·奥布莱恩采访时说，

"It's not very hard to get connected to Donald if you make it known that you have a lot of money and you want to do deals and you want to put his name on it."

“和特朗普产生关联并不难，只要让特朗普知道你有钱，想做生意，还想和他合作。”

But Trump eventually distanced himself from Sater,

但特朗普最终还是和萨特疏远了，

after The New York Times published an article detailing the latter's criminal conviction for assault,

因为此前《纽约时报》发布文章，揭露萨特因为袭击而定刑，

as well as his role in the stock scam case.

还参与股票欺诈案件。

"If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn't know what he looked like,"

“就算他现在坐在屋子里，我也不知道他长什么样，”

Trump said of Sater in a 2013 video deposition taken in connection with a civil lawsuit.

特朗普在2013年的一次和民事诉讼案件有关的视频证词中如是表示。

Two years later, as Trump was running for president, a reporter asked the Apprentice star about his former business partner,

两年后，特朗普竞选总统时，一位记者问起这位曾经的真人秀节目《学徒》明星以前的商业伙伴萨特，

and he replied:"I'm not that familiar with him."

特朗普回答说:“我跟他不熟。”

For Sater, these comments were hurtful, but he didn't stop trying to work with Trump;

对于萨特来说，这些话是伤人的，但萨特并未停止试图与特朗普合作；

there was still money to be made.

仍然有利可图。

Nor did he cease working with the FBI.

萨特也没有停止和联邦调查局合作。

Law enforcement officials say that beginning in 2005—and continuing for several years afterward—

执法官员说这始于2005年初，后持续了多年，

Sater helped break up a Russian ring in St. Petersburg that was hacking into the U.S. financial system.

萨特在圣彼得堡帮助分裂了入侵美国财政系统的团伙。

Taddeo, the FBI agent who had summoned Sater back to the U.S. in the pump-and-dump case, worked with him on the case.

塔迪欧是在调查拉高出货公司时把萨特召回美国的联邦调查局特工，在打击黑客团伙时和萨特一起合作。

The two men traveled to Limassol, Cyprus, a popular post-Soviet vacation spot for Russians.

两人行至塞浦路斯的利马索尔，这个地方是后苏联时代俄罗斯人的度假胜地。

Under the FBI's watch, Sater had infiltrated the hackers, helping them launder money,

在联邦调查局的监视下，萨特潜入了黑客团伙帮助他们洗钱，

and even met with the group's ringleader in Cyprus.

甚至还会见了该组织在塞浦路斯的头目。

The irony of this operation is not lost on Sater.

这次行动的讽刺性在萨特身上并没有丧失。

According to an indictment brought by Mueller, it was allegedly a St.Petersburg outfit, the Internet Research Agency,

根据检察官穆勒发起的起诉，据称圣彼得堡的一家互联网研究机构，

that spread "fake news" in the U.S. before the 2016 election.

于2016总统大选之际在美国传播“虚假消息”。

I asked Sater whether the FBI has indicated that the cases he worked on were linked to the same group,

我问萨特联邦调查局是否表明他所合作的案件和同一组人有关，

or to the alleged Democratic National Committee hackers.

或者和民主党全国委员会黑客有关。

"It could be part of the same group," Sater claims.

“可能是和同一组人的一部分有关，”萨特称。

"They've told my lawyer that some of the information we gathered is still 'actionable.'"

“他们告诉我的律师我们搜集的某些信息‘仍然可行’。”

(The Department of Justice declined to comment on the matter.)

（美国司法部拒绝就此事置评。）

Either way, in court proceedings and in testimony before Congress,

不管怎样，在法庭诉讼和国会听证会上，

various law enforcement officials have consistently vouched for Sater—

各个执法官员都为萨特担保，

including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who told the Senate Intelligence Committee

包括前司法部长洛蕾塔·林奇，她告诉美国参议院情报委员会，

that he had provided "valuable and sensitive" information to the government when she was running the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn.

她在管理布鲁克林管理美国检察官办公室时，萨特曾向美国政府提供“有价值和敏感”的信息。

Which is why when Sater was finally sentenced for the stock scam case in 2010—a case brought against him 12 years earlier—he got just a $25,000 fine.

这就是为什么萨特在2010年最终股票欺诈案件（12年前萨特被起诉的案件）判决时，仅是处以2.5万美元罚款。

For a once-convicted felon who had taken part in a multimillion-dollar scam, that was nothing.

对于一个参与数百万美元诈骗，曾经被判有罪的重刑犯来说，这点罚款算不了什么。