(单词翻译:单击)
Last Sept. 28, a group of retired military officers demonstrated at Jantar Mantar, a historic site in New Delhi. “Though we are old veterans, we still have the strength to challenge your atrocity,” read the placard of one protester, who was leaning on a cane.
去年9月28日,一群退役军官在新德里的历史遗址简塔·曼塔天文台举行示威活动。“虽然是上了年纪的退伍军人,但我们依然有力气挑战你的暴行,”一名拄着拐杖的抗议者手上的标语牌写道。
Their animus was directed at one of the New Delhi area’s biggest residential builders, Kabul Chawla. In 2008, nearly 200 military officers had put down deposits on apartments at Park Serene, a high-rise apartment complex Mr. Chawla was developing. In addition to a swimming pool, a community center and special prices for members of India’s military, a big drawing card was the prospect that the officers could live together in retirement.
他们抗议的对象是新德里地区最大的住宅开发商之一卡布尔·舒拉(Kabul Chawla)。2008年,近200名军官投入预付款,购买舒拉当时正在开发的高层公寓小区“静园”(Park Serene)的房子。除游泳池、社区中心和针对印度军人的特价外,另一个极具吸引力的地方是,军官们退役后能生活在一起。
More than six years later, the protesters say that Mr. Chawla’s company has collected almost 100 percent of the price of the Park Serene apartments from 400 buyers, payments the protesters estimate at more than $35 million. But the company has not completed the units. “They put their life savings in it,” said Brajesh Kumar, a retired Army major general and spokesman for the protesting officers, who have taken their grievances to a national consumer commission. “They thought that after their retirement they would move in. It’s not a happy situation for a large number of consumers.”
六年多过去了,抗议者称,舒拉的公司几乎收取了静园公寓400名买主的全款。他们估计金额超过3500万美元(约合2.2亿元人民币)。但该公司到现在都还没完成公寓的施工。“他们投入了毕生积蓄,”为抗议军人担任发言人的退役陆军少将布拉杰什·库马尔(Brajesh Kumar)说。抗议者们投诉到了一个全国性的消费者协会。“他们本以为退休后就能住进去。对这么多消费者来说,这种处境实在不好受。”
As complaints mount against Mr. Chawla, developer of two dozen other major residential complexes near New Delhi, many of the veterans are struggling to find a place to live.
在新德里周边,舒拉还是另外二十多处大型住宅区的开发商。随着对他的投诉越来越多,许多退伍军官却找不到住的地方。
Mr. Chawla does not appear to have that problem. Even when he is more than 7,000 miles away in New York, he enjoys the comforts of a 4,050-square-foot condominium in the Time Warner Center that has five bedrooms, a media/playroom, soaring ceilings and Central Park views.
不过,舒拉本人似乎并不存在这个问题。即便在7000多英里(约1.1万公里)外的纽约,他也享受着一套4050平方英尺(约380平方米)的共管公寓带来的舒适。时代华纳中心(Time Warner Center)的这套公寓空间开阔,有五间卧室和一个多媒体娱乐室,中央公园的景色尽收眼底。
Although Mr. Chawla denies owning the apartment, saying that he stays there but that it belongs to his cousin, The New York Times has unearthed correspondence among real estate brokers involved in the apartment’s purchase, as well as other sources, tying the condo to Mr. Chawla.
尽管舒拉否认是这套公寓的主人,称自己仅仅是住在那里,房子属于他的表亲,但《纽约时报》发现了参与买卖该公寓的几名房地产经纪人之间的通信。相关联络信息以及其他一些消息来源,将这套共管公寓同舒拉紧密地联系在了一起。
The ownership of the unit on the 68th floor of the Time Warner Center’s south tower is obscured by a corporate veil: a Delaware company with a Singapore address and a name, NYC Real Estate Opportunities, evoking the ambitions of an international buyer.
这套公寓在时代华纳中心南楼的第68层,其所有权掩藏在一层企业的面纱之下:特拉华州一家注册地址在新加坡的公司NYC Real Estate Opportunities。公司名称本身彰显了一名国际买家的野心。
The secrecy surrounding 68AF is not unusual. Of the 192 condos at the Time Warner Center, nearly two-thirds are owned through shell companies, a Times investigation has found. Often the names of the people behind those shell companies are shrouded in secrecy. And 68AF is among the most carefully cloaked.
围绕着共管公寓68AF的这种遮遮掩掩实属司空见惯。时报的调查发现,在时代华纳中心的192套共管公寓中,有近三分之二通过空壳公司持有。这些公司的幕后老板的身份常常笼罩着迷雾,而68AF则是主人身份被隐藏得最为小心的公寓之一。
When the apartment was bought outright in February 2012 for $19.4 million, the backlash against Mr. Chawla had already begun in India.
当2012年2月该公寓以1940万美元的价格被买下时,印度国内对舒拉的抵制已经开始上演了。
A Boom in Development
开发的热潮
Mr. Chawla, who is in his early 40s, got his start in the real estate business more than 20 years ago when he put up a building on property owned by his father. While his family name was well known in India — his cousin was the astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died aboard the space shuttle Columbia — Mr. Chawla’s company, BPTP, was little known until 2005, when he began aggressively purchasing farmland near Faridabad, a suburb of New Delhi. At the time, a new commuter rail line and highway were progressing toward the suburb, and BPTP began buying land at prices as low as $12 per square yard, which it would later sell for more than 10 times that.
20多年前,现在40岁出头的舒拉在房地产行业开始了自己的事业,在其父所有的一块地上盖起了一栋楼。尽管在印度,他的姓氏广为认知——在“哥伦比亚号”航天飞机上遇难的宇航员卡尔帕纳·舒拉(Kalpana Chawla)是他的堂亲——但他的公司BPTP却一直鲜为人知,直到2005年他开始在新德里郊区法里达巴德附近大举收购农田。当时,一条新的通勤铁路线和公路正在向该地区推进,而BPTP开始买地时的价格最低达每平方码12美元(约合每平方米90元人民币)。后来,该公司的卖价是这个水平的十多倍。
“No one showed interest in developing this area for 14 years, until we started land acquisition in 2005,” Mr. Chawla’s company said in an email, pointing out that the land had been cut off by two irrigation canals.
“在我们2005年开始在这片地区买地之前,有整整14年没有任何人对开发它表现出兴趣,”舒拉的公司在一封电子邮件中说,并指出那片地块被两条灌溉渠分隔开了。
Mr. Chawla’s company constructed a six-lane highway bridge to make the project, called Parklands, accessible. His efforts dovetailed with a state plan to transform vast tracts of rich farmland near Faridabad to residential use, which itself was part of a construction boom in India to accommodate a rising middle class.
舒拉的公司修了一座六车道的公路桥,以便让物资和人员进入名为“花园之地”(Parklands)的该开发项目。他的种种商业动作,与官方将法里达巴德附近的大片肥沃农田变成住宅用地的计划相吻合。该计划本身也是印度为给规模日渐扩大的中产阶级提供住房而出现的建设热潮的一部分。
By the fall of 2009, BPTP said it had presold 10,685 apartments and 5,657 residential plots at Parklands, which Mr. Chawla envisioned as a community that would include apartment buildings, lots for single-family homes and commercial establishments.
到2009年秋,BPTP宣称已完成了花园之地的10685套公寓和5657块住宅用地的预售。舒拉的畅想是,该社区既有公寓楼,也有可用于修建独栋住宅和商业设施的地块。
By 2012, the company was overseeing more than two dozen projects on nearly 2,500 acres. It had 22,000 customers and sales of $1.6 billion, according to a company news release at the time.
到2012年,公司在建的项目逾20个,占地面积近2500英亩(约合1000公顷)。根据公司当时发出的新闻稿,它拥有2.2万名客户,销售额达16亿美元。
Today, many of those customers appear to be unhappy. They have flooded Facebook pages, real estate forums and consumer websites in India with complaints about BPTP and have staged protests at some of the company’s properties.
事到如今,许多客户似乎都心怀不满。他们纷纷涌向印度的Facebook页面、房地产论坛和消费者网站去控诉BPTP,还在公司的一些地产项目所在地发动了多次抗议活动。
In an interview at his corporate headquarters near New Delhi and in emailed responses, Mr. Chawla and his company said that BPTP was highly professional and that it was catering to the region’s middle class. He acknowledged delays in some of his projects but blamed them on a “plethora” of external factors, including government setbacks in infrastructure development. Mr. Chawla’s company said it hoped to deliver the military officers’ apartments by this summer.
在新德里郊区的公司总部及通过电子邮件接受采访时,舒拉和他的公司表示,BPTP有着很高的专业素养,满足的是这一地区的中产阶级的需求。他承认旗下的一些项目存在延期问题,不过将其归咎于“过多的”外部因素,比如政府在基础设施开发上的阻滞。舒拉的公司则宣称,希望今年夏天能向军官们交付公寓。
“All the developers are facing this kind of issue,” he said in the company’s conference room, which is dominated by a large portrait of Gandhi.
“所有的开发商都会面临这种问题,”舒拉在公司会议室中表示。这里最突出的装饰是一张甘地的大幅肖像。
In addition to the six-lane bridge the company donated to the government, BPTP said it had taken on other projects that were the government’s responsibility.
除了公司向政府捐建的那座六通道大桥之外,BPTP声称,自己还承担了其他一些本应政府负责的项目。
But rather than the middle-class mecca Mr. Chawla had envisioned a decade ago, his signature development, Parklands, is a 1,700-acre dystopia of vacant lots and apartment structures, some finished but others in various stages of completion.
然而,舒拉的标志性开发项目花园之地并未成为他十年前畅想的中产阶级天堂,而是变成了充斥着空地和公寓框架结构的1700英亩的反乌托邦,有些地方已完工,但其他地方却处在不同的建设阶段。
Many owners who had moved into their apartments complained about leaky roofs, poor plaster and wiring, substandard sewage treatment, deficient recreational facilities and parking spaces, and hidden and escalating charges.
入住公寓的不少业主抱怨,屋顶漏水、灰泥涂层质量不佳、管线铺排糟糕、污水处理不达标、娱乐设施缺乏、停车位不够、存在隐形收费,而且收得越来越多。
Other buyers who are still without housing have accused BPTP of failing to deliver on properties they purchased.
其他仍然未能入住的买家则一直在指责BPTP没有如期交付自己购买的房产。
At one of the Parklands apartment complexes, called Park Elite Floors, a buyer, Neeraj Jagga, said that there had been little construction progress in three years and that much of the project appeared to have been abandoned. A video Mr. Jagga made of his unit last winter shows crumbling bricks and plaster, unfinished walls and floors, no windows and rusting balcony railings. A recent visit to the site revealed no progress, he said.
在花园之地的公寓群中,有一个小区叫做“菁园”(Park Elite Floors)。买家尼拉杰·贾加尔(Neeraj Jagga)称,建设工作在三年时间里没有什么进展,而且项目的很多部分似乎已遭废弃。贾加尔去年冬天拍摄的一则视频显示,他买的那套公寓砖头和灰泥开裂、墙壁与地板施工未能完成、窗户没有安装,而且阳台栏杆生了锈。他说,自己近期又去了一次,发现没有任何进展。
He bought one of the 4,194 apartments in the sprawling Park Elite Floors, most of which were sold in the spring and summer of 2009. Mr. Jagga, who works in commercial printing, said BPTP had given various reasons for delays, including claims of a contractor dispute. “It’s been five years,” he said. “Everybody is stuck.”
在占地广阔的菁园中,有4194套公寓,多数于2009年春季与夏季售出。在商业印刷领域工作的贾加尔买下了其中一套。他表示,BPTP为拖延扯了很多理由,包括与承包商的纠纷。“已经五年了,”他说。“每个人都被套住了。”
The company has denied wrongdoing. In the case of Park Elite Floors, the company said that while work had slowed, the project had not been abandoned and that it had offered possession to 1,274 of the buyers.
BPTP则否认其中存在不当行为。具体到菁园的例子,公司宣称虽然进展拖慢了,但项目本身并未荒废,而且已经通知1274名买家,可以交付公寓。
In India, customers frequently put down money for apartments and lots in advance, then continue paying as construction proceeds.
在印度,客户往往会预付公寓与地块的部分款项,然后在施工过程中补足剩余款项。
But as BPTP buyers have waited long beyond the promised delivery dates of their lots and apartments, the company has begun new projects. “Most of the money they have used for developing other projects, buying other lands,” said Ashok Rajan Agarwal, a retired executive for a state-owned power company who invested in BPTP property.
尽管BPTP开发项目的那些业主等待的时间早已超出了地块和公寓的承诺交付期,但公司却开始兴建新的项目。“大部分的钱被他们用来开发其他项目,”投资了BPTP地产的阿肖克·拉詹·阿加瓦尔(Ashok Rajan Agarwal)说。他已退休,之前在一家国有电力企业担任高管。
BPTP denies such allegations, but a recent ruling by a government consumer commission seems to buttress Mr. Agarwal’s statement. Two buyers at another complex filed complaints in 2012 seeking the return of substantial deposits they had made on apartments beginning in 2005. The commission ruled that BPTP had to refund the money with interest, noting that the company failed for several years to use it for the apartments but “continued to utilize the amounts deposited by the complainants” in other projects. The complex has since been completed, and BPTP says it has appealed the decision.
BPTP对这些指责一律加以否认。不过政府的一家消费者协会近期做出的裁决似乎支持了阿加瓦尔的说法。在另一座小区买了房的两名客户,从2005年开始投入了大笔预付款,到了2012年的时候提起申诉,要求返还这些款项。消费者协会裁定,BPTP必须连本带利返还,并且指出它数年来未能用这些钱来兴建该小区的公寓,而是“将申诉人累积缴纳的预付款持续用到”其他项目中。后来,该小区得以建成,BPTP表示正在就这一裁决提起上诉。
In addition to the complaints from angry and, in some cases, desperate customers, many critics have alleged that Mr. Chawla is a major beneficiary of government officials who have bent rules for favored builders, to the detriment of consumers.
除了来自那些愤怒客户的抱怨,以及某些绝望客户的控诉,许多批评人士还指责舒拉从政府官员那里受益。这些官员不惜打破规则来让开发商获利,而倒霉的却是消费者。
In August, an opposition party, Indian National Lok Dal, demanded an investigation of the relationship between several builders, including Mr. Chawla, and officials in Haryana State, where Faridabad is located. Mr. Chawla denies receiving any government favors.
去年8月,反对党印度全国人民党(Indian National Lok Dal)要求,对包括舒拉在内的几名开发商与法里达巴德所在的哈里亚纳邦的多名官员之间的关系进行调查。舒拉本人否认从政府那里获得了任何特殊关照。
Putting it into perspective, Amit Jain, who heads a consumer association representing apartment owners in a Delhi suburb, said BPTP is one of many companies that are taking advantage of a housing shortage and a loosely regulated system with few consumer protections. “I would say he is not a bad guy,” Mr. Jain said. “He is doing what most of the builders are doing. They’re good people but they are enjoying the largess of this failed state.”
阿米特·杰恩(Amit Jain)是代表德里郊区公寓业主的一个消费者协会的负责人,对此他提出了一个见解。他说,BPTP和其他很多公司正在利用住房短缺、监管系统宽松、消费者的权利几乎得不到保护的漏洞。“我不会说他是一个坏人,”杰恩说。“他做的事情,大部分开发商也在这么做。他们是好人,但他们正在从这种混乱状态中获益。”
"They Promised Heaven"
“他们曾许诺过一个天堂般的家”
On Dec. 26, 2011, The Times of India quoted a local police official as saying, “We are on the lookout for the accused Kabul Chawla.”
2011年12月26日,《印度时报》(The Times of India)引述当地警员的话说,“我们在寻找被告卡布尔·舒拉”。
The highly publicized case involved an accountant’s allegation that BPTP had cheated him out of 40 lakh rupees, then the equivalent of more than $85,000. The accountant, Suresh Goel, had bought a commercial lot in 2006 in Parklands, where he had planned to open an office. Mr. Goel said in an interview that he later learned that BPTP sold him the lot before getting required licenses and that when he complained to the company, it canceled his contract without returning his money.
这个案件有很高的曝光度,原告是一位名叫苏雷什·戈埃尔(Suresh Goel)的会计师,指控BPTP骗走了自己的400万卢比(约合人民币40万元)。2006年,戈埃尔在花园之地购买了一个商业地块,计划在那里开设一家办事处。他在一次采访中表示,自己后来才知道BPTP是在缺乏很多必需的许可证的情况下把地卖给他的,当他投诉到这家公司时,公司取消了与他的合同,但却没有退款。
After Mr. Goel filed a complaint with the police and another with a consumer commission, he said BPTP returned his money. The company said in an email that the allegations were false but that it returned Mr. Goel’s money to avoid harassment by the police.
戈埃尔向警局和一个消费者委员会报告此事之后,他说BPTP退回了钱。该公司在一封电邮中表示,这些指控并不属实,但是为了避免警方的骚扰,公司还是把钱退给了戈埃尔。
Even after the money was returned, the police continued their investigation. In 2012, BPTP went to court to get the case closed. The case was kept open, though, after an investigating officer testified that other people were approaching him with similar complaints against the company.
甚至在钱被退回之后,警方的调查仍在继续。2012年,BPTP去法院结案,但未成功,因为一名调查员作证说,还有其他人向他报告该公司的类似问题。
The case was closed in 2013 without charges being brought.
2013年,这个案件在没有提起任何指控的情况下结案了。
In interviews, some buyers who bought lots years ago in Parklands complained that the company arbitrarily switched the location of their lots to less developed parts of the project.
在采访中,一些在花园之地购买了地块的人抱怨说,自己购买的地块的位置,被该公司任意调整到了该项目中开发滞后的地方。
In a statement, the company strongly denied the allegations but said that some buyers were assigned different lots when the government ordered changes to the overall plan, including the widening of roads, that required a new layout.
在一份声明中,该公司坚决否认了这一指责,但表示,政府下令修改该项目总体规划,包括对道路进行拓宽,因此他们改动了布局,一些购房者被分配到了不同的地段。
Manoj Pandey, a real estate agent who said he sold more than 100 BPTP plots, ascribed a more nefarious motivation. He said that the company’s pattern was to sell property, then reassign customers to less desirable locations and resell the original property for more money.
马诺·潘迪(Manoj Pandey)是一个房地产经纪人,自称卖出了100多个BPTP地块,他觉得该公司这么做是出于更加恶劣的动机。他说,该公司的模式是出售物业,然后重新把业主的地段调整到不太理想的位置,然后重新出售原来的物业,以赚取更多的钱。
BPTP, in a statement, called the allegation “false, frivolous and a figment of someone’s imagination.”
BPTP在一份声明中称这种指责“不属实、很无聊,是凭空想象”。
But Mr. Pandey said in an interview: “They promised heaven to all the buyers.”
不过,潘迪在一次采访中说:“他们对每个买家的许诺都像天堂般的美好。”
Naveen Verma, an Indian who works in a technology job in Scotland, said he bought a Parklands lot in 2006. Mr. Verma, who said he had invested more than $90,000 in his property, provided The Times with dozens of emails to BPTP asking for possession. Mr. Verma said he had been promised a swimming pool and Wi-Fi connectivity in a gated community, but none of that had materialized. Instead, local villagers were using the site to dry cow manure for fuel when he last visited in December 2013.
在苏格兰科技业中工作的印度人纳温·维尔马(Naveen Verma)说,自己2006年在花园之地购买了一个地块,投资超过9万美元。他向时报提供了几十封要求BPTP交付物业的电邮。维尔马说,BPTP承诺的物业是在一个封闭式社区中,有游泳池,能上WiFi,但这些承诺都没有兑现。他上次去那里是在2013年12月,当地村民们正在那里晒牛粪当燃料。
In 2014, Mr. Verma went to court and BPTP agreed to turn over the lot to him, although he said there was little he could do with the property at this point. In a statement, the company said that no road had been built to Mr. Verma’s property because the government had been unable to acquire the necessary land, blaming “encroachment by some local villagers.”
2014年,维尔马述至法院,此后BPTP同意把地块交付交给他。不过他说,对自己而言,这个物业当时几乎没法利用。在一份声明中,该公司表示,他们没有修建通向维尔马物业的道路,是由于“一些当地村民的侵占行为”,导致政府无法获得必要的土地。
One villager, a retired electrical worker named Ram Kishan, whose home is near Mr. Verma’s lot, says he will not leave the settlement. “I told them this is the land of my forefathers and we have been living here for over 150 years,” Mr. Kishan said, speaking in Hindi about visitors to the site who told him he had to leave. “How can I run away from the village of my ancestors? The whole world is building their homes around our village.”
一位名叫拉姆·基尚(Ram Kishan)的村民是退休电工,他的家靠近维尔马的地块。基尚说自己不会迁走。“我告诉他们,这是我祖上传下来的土地,我们在这里生活了150多年,”基尚用印地语说。他说有人到这里来,叫他必须迁走。“我怎能离开世代居住的村子呢?全世界都跑到我们村周围盖房子住。”
A Purchase in Manhattan
曼哈顿的交易
By the summer of 2011, as Mr. Chawla fended off criticism back home, a buyer expressed an interest in Apartment 68AF in the Time Warner Center.
2011年夏,正在舒拉躲闪着来自本国的指责之时,一个买家表示对时代华纳中心共管公寓68AF感兴趣。
The resulting cash offer of $19.4 million was more than $7 million below the asking price for the apartment, which encompasses five and a half marble baths, a 23-by-24-foot great room, his-and-her master closets and river-to-river views of the city.
买家的现款出价是1940万美元,比该公寓的要价低700多万。公寓拥有五个半大理石浴缸,一个23×24英尺的大房间,男女主人衣柜,窗外是一览无余的纽约城景。
When the contract was finally drawn up, it contained special language permitting the purchaser to transfer ownership to a limited liability company, which “may be owned by a Cayman Island limited liability company or a British Virgin Island limited liability company to be formed, and/or to a trust.”
合同最终敲定时包含了特别条款,允许购买者把所有权转让给一家有限责任公司,而该公司“可能属于开曼群岛或英属维尔京群岛一家有待创办的有限责任公司,和/或转至信托。”
The contract went on to suggest that another family would occupy the unit and might become the owner. The family’s name did not appear in the paperwork but was to be disclosed to the condo board. If the board did not agree to the arrangement, the deal was to be voided and the $1.9 million deposit returned. Such a transfer would not require any public filing.
该合同还表明,将要居住在这里的是另一个家庭,而他们有可能成为业主。该家庭的名字并没有出现在文件中,但是提交给了公寓委员会。如果委员会不同意的这项安排,这笔交易将会作废,190万美元的保证金也将退还。这样的移交不需要任何公开备案。
Douglas A. Kellner, a New York lawyer who reviewed the contract at the request of The Times but knew nothing about the buyer, said the type of layering described in the document could place ownership in the jurisdiction with the most favorable tax treatment — which could reduce tax liabilities if a residence was rented or if a mortgage was taken out.
时报请纽约律师道格拉斯·A·克尔纳(Douglas A. Kellner)审核了这份合同,他对买家一无所知。克尔纳表示,合同中的这些条款,可以把所有权放到税收待遇最优惠的管辖区——在公寓出租,或者申请抵押贷款时,可以减少税负。
“There is also the possibility that the layering is used to hide the real ownership,” Mr. Kellner said.
“这些条款也有可能被用来掩护真正的业主,”克尔纳说。
Months went by before the deal finally closed. If not for a lawsuit over real estate fees, neither the terms of the contract nor a clue linking it to Mr. Chawla would have been revealed.
几个月之后,这宗交易最终完成了。如果不是因为一场房地产费用官司,合同的内容和有关舒拉的线索都不会曝光。
Shortly after the sale, the brokerage firm Douglas Elliman sued the former owners of the condo, claiming the company was due brokerage fees. Documents filed in that case contained email exchanges among brokers, including Julie Rose of Citi Habitats, who had represented the buyer. One of the emails refers to the first name of a figure making requests from behind the scenes: Kabul.
该公寓售出后不久,经纪公司道格拉斯·艾丽曼房地产公司(Douglas Elliman)状告这套公寓的前业主,称其到期未付中介费。该案的文件包含经纪人之间的一些电邮往来,其中一名经纪人是代表买方的花旗居屋(Citi Habitats)的朱莉·罗斯(Julie Rose)。一份电邮提到了幕后主使者的名字:卡布尔。
“Dear All,” Brenda S. Powers, then a broker for Brown Harris Stevens, which represented the seller, wrote in an email to others involved in the transaction. “Julie Rose who is in direct communication with Kabul has requested the following.”
“亲爱的诸位,”卖方代理人、当时为布朗·哈里斯·史蒂文斯(Brown Harris Stevens)公司经纪人的布伦达·S·鲍尔斯(Brenda S. Powers)在电邮中对参与这桩交易的其他人说。“朱莉·罗斯负责与卡布尔直接沟通,她提出了以下要求。”
The email went on to explain that the buyer’s lawyer would not release the contract and deposit until complete measurements had been made of the unit. “We will get the different ways — methods of calculation,” Ms. Powers wrote. “Architect’s approach, graphic designer’s approach, developer’s approach.”
该电邮接着解释,直到该公寓进行过全面测量之后,买方律师才会发出合同和定金。“我们会使用不同的方法——计算方法,”鲍尔斯写道。“建筑师的方法,平面设计师的方法,开发商的方法。”
A person inside the Time Warner Center had suggested to The Times that Kabul Chawla and his wife, Anjali, owned 68AF, and Ms. Powers’s email supplied additional information.
一位时代华纳中心内部人士曾告诉时报,卡布尔·舒拉和他的妻子安贾莉(Anjali)是68AF公寓的所有者,而鲍尔斯的电邮还提供了其他信息。
In an interview, Mr. Chawla acknowledged that his family had used the Time Warner Center condo. The Chawlas’ teenage son had posted photographs on his Facebook page that, with their telling architectural detail and views of Central Park in the background, seem to have been taken from inside the unit. Mr. Chawla said the unit was owned by Aneil Anand, who he said was a cousin. “I don’t own an apartment in New York,” Mr. Chawla said.
在一次采访中,舒拉承认,其家人曾住在时代华纳中心的公寓。他家十几岁的儿子在Facebook上贴了一些照片,从其中特别的建筑细节、以及背景中的中央公园风景来看,似乎是在这套公寓里拍摄的。舒拉说这套公寓属于表亲阿奈尔·阿南德(Aneil Anand)。“我自己在纽约没有公寓,”舒拉说。
Mr. Anand, who is listed as the purchaser in documents disclosed in the lawsuit, joined the hedge fund Duet Group in 2009 from JPMorgan Chase & Company. Mr. Anand did not respond to requests for an interview.
阿南德在该诉讼披露的文件中被列为购买人,于2009年从摩根大通公司跳槽到对冲基金DuetGroup。他没有回应记者的采访要求。
To further investigate the ownership, The Times contacted one of the people on the “Kabul” email, Hall F. Willkie, the president of Brown Harris Stevens. Citing the deed on 68AF, The Times asked Mr. Willkie why it was signed by Aneil Anand and not Kabul Chawla. “I think they usually just put it in another name for public records,” he replied.
为了进一步调查这套公寓的所有权,时报联系了那份“卡布尔”电邮中的联系人霍尔·F·威尔基(Hall F. Willkie)。他是布朗·哈里斯·史蒂文斯公司的总裁。关于68AF公寓,时报询问威尔基,为什么签名的是阿奈尔·阿南德而不是卡布尔·舒拉。“我认为他们就是经常在公共记录中使用另一个名字而已,”他回答说。
When The Times asked whether Kabul Chawla or Aneil Anand toured the apartment before purchase, he said he did not know but could not disclose that even if he did.
当时报询问卡布尔·舒拉或阿奈尔·阿南德是否在购买之前参观了公寓时,威尔基说他不知道,但即使知道,也不能透露这种信息。
“The last thing we do is talk about them as individuals,” he said.
“我们是绝不会谈及他们个人的,”他说。
“So for you to talk about this deal you would have to ask Kabul for permission?” The Times continued.
“那如果你要谈这笔交易,就必须先征得卡布尔的许可吗?”时报问。
“Yes,” Mr. Willkie responded.
“是的,”威尔基回答。
The deal for 68AF was one of New York’s 25 most expensive residential sales of 2012. After it closed, Citi Habitats posted an interview with Ms. Rose on the company website in which she described it as “a very complicated deal — but in the end my client was very happy. He loves his new home and that’s all that matters.”
68AF公寓交易位于2012年纽约最贵的住宅交易前25位。该交易完成后,花旗居屋的网站上贴出了一则对罗斯采访,她形容这是“一桩非常复杂的交易——但我的客户最后非常满意。他喜爱这处新家,这才是最重要的。”
In an effort to reach Mr. Anand, a reporter tried to deliver him a bottle of wine at the Time Warner Center. But staff members there did not know who he was. A concierge at the front desk searched through a list of residents, looking for Aneil Anand. “We don’t have anyone by that name,” she said.
为了和阿南德取得联系,记者试图到时代华纳中心送一瓶葡萄酒给他。但工作人员也不知道他是谁。前台服务员在住户列表中搜索阿奈尔·阿南德。“这里没有叫这个名字的人,”她说。