A hedge fund manager has been charged by the US with fraud for an investment scheme that allegedly exploited terminally ill patients to reap early bond payments from companies.

美国当局指控一名对冲基金经理用一项投资计划实施欺诈，该计划涉嫌利用绝症病人来从公司债的提前赎回中获利。

Donald Lathen, 48, used a network of contacts at nursing homes and hospice facilities to pitch an “end of life financial assistance” programme to people with less than six months to live through a group he set up called EndCare, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

美国证交会(SEC)表示，48岁的唐纳德•拉滕(Donald Lathen)利用在养老院和临终关怀机构的人脉，通过他设立的一家名为“EndCare”的集团，向剩余寿命不足6个月的人推销一项“临终资金援助”计划。

The individual typically received a one-time payment of $10,000, and in return, was required to become the joint owner of a brokerage account set up by either Mr Lathen or one of its designees, the SEC said.

美国证交会称，每名病人一般会被一次性给付1万美元，作为交换条件，他们必须成为拉滕或其指定人之一设立的经纪账户的联合所有者。

Beginning in 2011, Mr Lathen’s hedge fund, Eden Arc Capital Partners, which at its peak had $52m in assets and 22 investors, started seeding the brokerage accounts. Mr Lathen then used the accounts to buy bonds and other securities with so-called survivor options at a discount.

从2011年起，拉滕的对冲基金Eden Arc Capital Partners开始逐步设立这些经纪账户（该基金在巅峰时期管理资产达5200万美元，投资者达22个）。接着，他使用这些账户以折扣价买入附带所谓“生者选择权”(survivor's option)的债券及其他证券。

The instruments allow bondholders to redeem securities at par plus accrued interest when the holder dies, leaving the fund able to turn a profit by selling the bond back to the issuer upon the death of the holder.

当债券持有人死亡时，这些选择权允许持有人以票面价格卖出债券，并取得应计利息。这样，该基金就可以在债券持有人死亡时把债券卖回给发行方，从中赚取利润。

Mr Lathen set up 60 accounts that purchased 2,350 investments “from dozens of issuers”, prompting companies to pay out more than $100m in early redemptions, the SEC said. Since inception, the fund earned over $9.5m in profits, according to the SEC.

美国证交会表示，拉滕设立了60个账户，购买了“数十个发行方”发行的2350只证券，让这些公司拿出了逾1亿美元用于提前赎回。美国证交会称，从创立以来，该基金赚到了逾950万美元利润。

However, Mr Lathen, who had previously worked at Citigroup and Lehman Brothers according to Finra data, ran foul of securities laws by “falsely representing to issuers that he and the terminally ill individuals were joint owners of the accounts” when Mr Lathen’s “hedge fund was the true owner of the survivor’s option investments”, the SEC alleged.

美国证交会指控称，拉滕违反了证券法，他“向发行方假称他和那些绝症病人是这些账户的联合所有者”，而实际上他的“对冲基金才是生者选择权投资的真实所有者”。美国金融业监管局(FINRA)数据显示，拉滕曾供职于花旗集团(Citigroup)和雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)。

Harlan Protass, Mr Lathen’s attorney said, the SEC charges were meritless and would be defended.

拉滕的律师哈伦•普罗塔斯(Harlan Protass)表示，美国证交会的指控毫无道理，将就此进行辩护。

“We have no doubt that Mr Lathen’s investment strategy is entirely legitimate and violates no law, and we intend to vigorously defend him against the SEC’s meritless charges,” he said.

他说：“我们坚信拉滕的投资策略完全合法，没有违反任何法律，我们打算积极地为他辩护，反驳美国证交会毫无道理的指控。”