Fifteen years ago, as the head of China research at UBS, I was threatened by two Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. One of the two, Greencool Technology, sued me and my employer for libel. The other, Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings, was equally threatening. I had written negative researchon both companies, and their stock prices had tanked as a result.

15年前，当我担任瑞银(UBS)中国区研究部主管时，我受到了两家在港交所(HKEx)上市的中国企业的威胁。其中之一的格林柯尔科技(Greencool Technology)以诽谤罪名起诉我和我的雇主。另一家欧亚农业(Euro-Asia Agricultural Holdings)也同样来势汹汹。此前，我撰写了不利于这两家公司的研究报告，它们的股价由此大跌。
Within two years, both companies, which boasted market values of billions of dollars at their peak, had gone bust. And then the chairmen of the day — Gu Chujun of Greencool and Yang Bin of Euro-Asia — were put behind bars in China.
不到两年，这两家在顶峰时市值曾达数十亿美元的公司都崩盘了。接着，两家公司的董事长——格林柯尔的顾雏军和欧亚农业的杨斌——都在中国锒铛入狱。

Was justice served? No — at least, not completely. Both chairmen were punished for their criminal offences. But in neither case was their fraud in the capital markets mentioned, let alone punished. The large numbers of investment bankers, auditors, directors, corporate executives involved have escaped proper scrutiny. Worst of all, neither the relevant government departments nor the public have learnt a lesson.

正义得到伸张了吗？没有，起码没有完全伸张。两名董事长的刑事罪行受到了惩罚。但两案均未提及他们在资本市场的欺诈行为，更不要说依此处罚了。牵涉其中的大量投行家、审计师、董事和公司高管，都逃脱了恰如其分的追究。最糟糕的是，不论是相关政府部门还是公众，都没有从中吸取教训。
To me, sleepless nights were not the only damage I suffered from the case. I have endured censure from many of the hundreds of retail and even institutional investors. They blamed me for their financial losses: had I not raised questions about these troubled companies, they might have unloaded the stocks in good time and in doing so booked tidy profits — or so they argued. Many questioned my motives; some even asked whether my employer held short positions in the shares, meaning it would benefit from plunging prices.
对我而言，失眠并非这些案子对我造成的唯一损害。我受到数百散户甚至机构投资者中许多人的责难。他们谴责我让他们亏了钱：若不是我对这两家有麻烦的公司提出质疑，他们或许来得及卖掉股票，借此斩获丰厚利润——至少他们是这么声称的。许多人质问我的动机何在；有些人甚至问，我的雇主是否正在做空这两只股票，意思是瑞银将受益于股价下跌。
In those days, despite the high-profile court cases and widespread media coverage of my role, no government agency ever asked me about my doubts regarding the two companies. They never inquired about the investigative field trips — to check out whether, say, certain factories were indeed producing the widgets they said they were producing — that sparked my concern. I was largely left to fend for myself. Having become known as a “black mouth” — someone who calls public attention to corporate wrongdoing — I received strange, sometimes hostile, stares of recognition on the streets of Hong Kong and big Chinese cities.
那段日子里，尽管法庭审案引起不小轰动，媒体也对我的作用做了广泛报道，但没有一个政府部门向我询问我对两家公司的怀疑。他们也从未询问我的现场调查之行（目的是查清一些事实，比如说有些工厂是否正在生产他们号称在生产的新产品）。这让我感到担忧。我基本上只能依靠自己为自己辩护。人们把我称为“黑嘴”（呼吁公众关注公司不当行为的人），在香港和中国大城市的街头上被人认出时，有些人会用奇怪、有时满怀敌意的目光瞪着我。
My employer, UBS, was one of my few sources of support. It not only funded my legal bills but also allowed me to continue in my job. My colleagues in the equity sales, wealth management and investment banking departments also faced negative comments from customers, including rich individuals, fund houses and corporate clients.