昔日加拿大華人創(chuàng)業(yè)“明星”起落記

VANCOUVER — Sun Yian was living the Canadian dream.

溫哥華——孫一桉實踐了加拿大夢。

The Chinese immigrant found fortune harnessing Canadian talent to develop cutting-edge technology, everything from semiconductors to facial recognition, to take back to China. His company grew to more than 1,500 employees across China and North America, and was lauded by Canadian officials as a model for unlocking the Chinese market to create homegrown prosperity.

這位中國移民利用加拿大人才，開發(fā)從半導(dǎo)體到面部識別等各種前沿技術(shù)，把它們賣到中國，從而發(fā)財致富。他的公司在中國和北美地區(qū)擁有超過1500名員工，被加拿大官員譽為打開中國市場，創(chuàng)造本土繁榮的典范。

Then Mr. Sun stopped paying his Canadian workers and fled to China. Left behind are lawsuits from angry investors and Canadian employees who are wondering whether their work could be used to help China’s growing domestic surveillance state.

而后，孫一桉開始停止支付其加拿大工人的工資，并逃往中國。在他身后，憤怒的投資者和加拿大員工發(fā)起訴訟，員工們懷疑，自己的工作是否會成為中國不斷發(fā)展的本土監(jiān)控政權(quán)的幫兇。

Canada has long benefited from close business ties to China, and lawmakers have courted the country as a new market for Canadian companies as well as a source of investment. Now, Mr. Sun’s story is fueling calls for heightened skepticism of Chinese money.

加拿大長期以來一直受益于同中國的密切商業(yè)聯(lián)系，立法者已將中國視為加拿大公司的新市場以及投資來源?，F(xiàn)在，孫一桉的故事正激起人們對中國資金的懷疑。

“Canadian officials have to some degree been blinded by China’s incredible economic growth and waves of capital spreading worldwide,” said Michael Byers, a professor of global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “They’re certainly naïve to China’s approach to acquiring high tech from other countries, and they haven’t pushed hard on getting answers before allowing deals to go through.”

“加拿大官員在某種程度上被中國令人難以置信的經(jīng)濟增長和它遍及全球的資本擴張浪潮所蒙蔽，”溫哥華不列顛哥倫比亞大學(xué)(University of British Columbia)全球政治和國際法教授邁克爾·拜爾斯(Michael Byers)說：“他們對中國從其他國家收購高科技的方法全然無知，而且也沒有在允許交易通過之前努力尋求答案。”

In March 2017, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved the sale of a Montreal laser company to a firm partly owned by the Chinese government, despite objections from security officials in the previous Canadian government. In June 2017, Canada waived a security review for a Chinese takeover of Norsat International, a Vancouver high-tech company that provided satellite technology to the United States military.

2017年3月，賈斯汀·特魯多(Justin Trudeau)總理的政府不顧上屆加拿大政府的安全官員反對，批準(zhǔn)將蒙特利爾一家激光公司出售給部分由中國政府擁有的公司。2017年6月，加拿大放棄了對中國收購諾賽特國際(Norsat International)公司的安全審查，這是一家向美國軍方提供衛(wèi)星技術(shù)的溫哥華高科技公司。

Mr. Sun’s company, Istuary Innovation Group, initially appeared to represent the positives of Chinese investment. His company brought jobs and high-tech business to Vancouver. But a review of the company’s finances and interviews with former employees reveal a murky web of financial and previously undisclosed ties to the Chinese government.

起初，孫一桉的公司溢思得瑞科技創(chuàng)新集團(Istuary Innovation Group)似乎代表了中國投資的積極因素。他的公司為溫哥華帶來了就業(yè)和高科技業(yè)務(wù)。但對公司財務(wù)狀況的審查以及對前雇員的采訪揭示出，該公司同中國政府密切的財務(wù)關(guān)系構(gòu)成了一張陰暗的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，之前從未得到披露。

Mr. Sun, 45, who goes by the name Ethan, founded Istuary in 2013 in a Vancouver Starbucks, just as the Canadian government was welcoming greater Chinese investment. At its peak, the technology incubator and venture fund occupied two floors of a downtown Vancouver office building, where engineers toiled on semiconductors, robotics, big data analytics and facial recognition. By 2017, Istuary had 24 offices around the world, including in Beijing, Shanghai, Los Angeles and Toronto.

現(xiàn)年45歲的孫一桉英文名Ethan，于2013年在溫哥華的一家星巴克里創(chuàng)立了溢思得瑞，當(dāng)時加拿大政府正在歡迎更多中國投資。在其最風(fēng)光的時候，這家技術(shù)孵化器和風(fēng)險投資基金公司在溫哥華市中心的辦公大樓占據(jù)了兩層樓，工程師們在這里研發(fā)半導(dǎo)體、機器人、大數(shù)據(jù)分析和面部識別技術(shù)。到2017年，溢思得瑞在全球設(shè)有24個辦事處，包括北京、上海、洛杉磯和多倫多。

The company’s growth helped give Mr. Sun access to Canada’s political elite, relationships that were nurtured through political donations and corporate sponsorships. Photos he posted online show him smiling with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a trade mission in China. Government officials in British Columbia praised Mr. Sun for creating Canadian jobs.

公司的發(fā)展令孫一桉通過政治捐贈和企業(yè)贊助培養(yǎng)的關(guān)系打入加拿大政治精英圈子。他在網(wǎng)上發(fā)布的照片顯示他面帶微笑，與率商貿(mào)代表團訪華的賈斯汀·特魯多總理合影。不列顛哥倫比亞省政府官員稱贊孫一桉為加拿大創(chuàng)造了就業(yè)機會。

A Vancouver government agency signed a contract with Chinese industrial parks to expand Istuary’s operations. Istuary joined publicly funded Canadian organizations to do research. Canada’s immigration ministry approved the company for a federal startup visa program that lets foreign entrepreneurs obtain permanent residency.

溫哥華政府機構(gòu)與中國工業(yè)園區(qū)簽訂合同，以擴大溢思得瑞的業(yè)務(wù)。溢思得瑞加入了官方資助的加拿大組織進行研究。加拿大移民部門批準(zhǔn)該公司加入一項聯(lián)邦創(chuàng)業(yè)簽證計劃，該計劃允許外國創(chuàng)業(yè)者獲得永久居留權(quán)。

“The government gave us really good support,” Mr. Sun told a Canadian business summit in 2015, according to a video of his speech posted online. “政府給了我們非常好的支持，”孫一桉于2015年在一次加拿大商業(yè)峰會上表示。

Yet some of Istuary’s work provoked concern among employees. 然而，溢思得瑞的一些工作引起了員工的關(guān)注。

Eric Hsu, 39, an American data scientist hired by Istuary’s Vancouver office in 2016, said he worked on artificial intelligence capable of recognizing a person’s face across multiple surveillance feeds or detecting specific human behavior, like fighting. “A lot of these security applications were both humanitarian and ethically troubling,” he said in an interview. “Chinese clients had lots of ideas for ways they would use our applications. Some of those raised red flags.”

39歲的埃里克·許(Eric Hsu)是溢思得瑞溫哥華辦事處于2016年聘請的美國數(shù)據(jù)科學(xué)家，他說他研發(fā)的人工智能可以通過多個監(jiān)控攝像頭識別一個人的面部，或監(jiān)測打斗等特定的人類行為。“許多這樣的安全應(yīng)用都有人道和倫理方面的問題，”他在接受采訪時說。“中國客戶對如何使用我們的應(yīng)用程序有很多想法。其中一些令人警惕。”

An Istuary customer presentation reviewed by The New York Times highlighted the services its technology could offer in Chinese cities. They included the ability to recognize faces through security cameras and run them through databases, as well as track people’s personal relationships. It also highlighted other services, like tracking crowds and land records.

《紐約時報》看到的一份溢思得瑞客戶演示文稿強調(diào)該公司的技術(shù)可以在中國城市提供什么樣的服務(wù)，包括通過安全攝像頭識別人臉，在數(shù)據(jù)庫中檢查這些數(shù)據(jù)，以及追蹤人們的個人關(guān)系。文稿還強調(diào)了公司的其他服務(wù)，如跟蹤人群和土地記錄。

Mr. Hsu said he attended trade shows in China where Mr. Sun pitched Istuary’s artificial intelligence technology to potential customers interested in products designed to prevent prisoner suicides or for detecting criminal activity.

埃里克·許說，他參加了中國的一些貿(mào)易展會，會上孫一桉將溢思得瑞的人工智能技術(shù)推廣給了對防止囚犯自殺或偵查犯罪活動的產(chǎn)品感興趣的潛在客戶。

Human rights groups say Chinese authorities have been zealously using big data collection, A.I. and facial-recognition technology to upgrade Beijing’s mass surveillance efforts.

人權(quán)組織稱，中國當(dāng)局一直熱衷于使用大數(shù)據(jù)收集、人工智能和面部識別技術(shù)，提升北京的大規(guī)模監(jiān)控工作。

Mr. Sun enjoyed ties to the Chinese government that his Canadian workers and investors say he did not disclose.

孫一桉與中國政府之間有著聯(lián)系，他的加拿大員工和投資者表示他從未透露過。

Kuang’en Network Technologies, a cybersecurity company he founded in Beijing in 2014, specialized in industrial control systems for some of China’s biggest state-owned enterprises.

匡恩網(wǎng)絡(luò)科技有限責(zé)任公司是他于2014年在北京成立的一家網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全公司，專門為中國一些最大的國有企業(yè)提供工業(yè)控制系統(tǒng)。

State Grid, China’s national power distributor, said it banned Kuang’en, among other companies, in 2016 from bidding on public contracts because of collusion, without offering details. But that year, Kuang’en formed a joint venture with another cybersecurity firm, BeijingVRV, whose powerful Chinese government clients include the National People’s Congress, the finance and foreign ministries, military contractors and public security agencies.

中國的國家電力分銷商——國家電網(wǎng)表示，它在2016年就因為相互串通而禁止匡恩網(wǎng)絡(luò)等企業(yè)參與公共合同的承包競標(biāo)，但未提供詳情。但就在那一年，匡恩與另外一家網(wǎng)絡(luò)安全公司北信源成立了一家合資企業(yè)，后者擁有強大的中國政府客戶，包括全國人大、財政部和外交部、軍事承包商和公安部門。

According to corporate documents and Mr. Sun’s employees in China, Istuary and Kuang’en shared funding, workers, technology, office space and shareholders, including Mr. Sun’s wife, Hu Yulan.

根據(jù)公司文件和孫一桉在中國的員工的說法，溢思得瑞和匡恩共享資金、員工、技術(shù)、辦公室，以及包括孫的妻子胡雨嵐在內(nèi)的股東。

Former Istuary employees in Vancouver said the company’s collapse began last spring with a series of missed payrolls and final paychecks in May 2017. Many stayed at their jobs anyway.

溢思得瑞在溫哥華的前雇員表示，公司從去年春天開始不對勁，出現(xiàn)沒有按時發(fā)薪的情況，最后一筆工資是2017年5月發(fā)的。不過許多人還是留下來沒走。

“Sun kept giving us false hopes,” said Manivannan Gajendran, who led an Istuary quality testing team in Vancouver. He said he took out a $15,000 line of credit to cover his daily expenses while he waited for money that never came.

“孫一直讓我們空指望，”在溫哥華領(lǐng)導(dǎo)溢思得瑞一個質(zhì)檢小組的瑪尼凡蘭·格堅德安(Manivannan Gajendran)說。他表示，在等著永遠等不來的錢同時，他拿出了1.5萬美元的信用額度用于支付日常開支，

By then, Mr. Sun had gone back to China. In August, Istuary investors in British Columbia sued Mr. Sun and his wife, accusing the couple of illegally using funds to purchase two multimillion-dollar homes in Vancouver.

那時候，孫一桉已經(jīng)回到了中國。到8月，不列顛哥倫比亞省的溢思得瑞投資者將孫一桉夫婦告上法庭，指控他們非法使用資金在溫哥華購買了兩套價值數(shù)百萬美元的住宅。

Canada’s immigration ministry suspended Istuary from the startup visa program after learning of the allegations. In an email, a ministry spokeswoman said it had gathered information on Istuary after the company was recommended by an industry association, and “found no reason to reject the designation recommendation at that time.”

在獲悉指控之后，加拿大移民部暫停了溢思得瑞的創(chuàng)業(yè)簽證項目。該部發(fā)言人通過一封電子郵件表示，在一家行業(yè)協(xié)會推薦該公司后，它收集了有關(guān)溢思得瑞的信息，“當(dāng)時沒有理由拒絕指定推薦。”

Mr. Sun did not respond to interview requests made through his Vancouver lawyer. But he denied the allegations in a letter posted on Istuary’s now-defunct website in October. “We are NOT a Ponzi scheme,” he wrote.

孫一桉沒有回應(yīng)通過他在溫哥華的律師提出的采訪請求。但去年10月份，他在溢思得瑞現(xiàn)已不存在的網(wǎng)站上貼出一封信，否認(rèn)了那些指控。“我們不是龐氏騙局，”他寫道。

A British Columbia provincial employment department has since ordered Istuary to pay around $2.2 million in unpaid wages to more than 150 employees and has begun collection proceedings in order to seize Mr. Sun’s residential properties, a spokeswoman from the province’s labor ministry said in an email.

不列顛哥倫比亞省勞工部的發(fā)言人在一封電子郵件中說，該省的勞動就業(yè)部門已經(jīng)下令要溢思得瑞向150多名員工支付約220萬美元的拖欠工資，并開始收賬訴訟，尋求沒收孫一桉的住宅物業(yè)。

The fallout, and Mr. Sun’s broken promises, soon reached the company’s operations in China. According to Laura Fan, an Istuary employee in Guangdong Province, Mr. Sun claimed the company’s cash crunch was because of poor management and Chinese regulatory changes. He also blamed Chinese investors and their “political mission” for pressuring him into striking deals with American chip companies, she said.

負(fù)面影響和孫一桉背棄諾言的行為，很快就影響到該公司在中國的業(yè)務(wù)。根據(jù)溢思得瑞在廣東的員工勞拉·范(Laura Fan)的說法，孫一桉聲稱公司資金緊張是因為管理不善和中國的監(jiān)管變化造成的。她說，他還責(zé)怪中國的投資者，以及他們迫使他跟美國的芯片企業(yè)達成交易的“政治使命”。

In December, Istuary and Kuang’en’s offices began closing across China, without employees being paid for months of work. “These people never got any of their salaries,” Ms. Fan said.

12月，溢思得瑞和匡恩開始關(guān)閉在中國各地的辦公室，員工好幾個月都沒有拿到工資。“這些人都沒有拿到一分錢的薪水，”勞拉·范說。

Just before Christmas, former employees said, two people from a Chinese technology firm that had invested in Kuang’en camped out in the Beijing office, hoping to catch Mr. Sun. A few weeks later, debt collectors locked the doors with a heavy chain. On a recent visit to the shuttered office, trash covered a rickety cot and chairs visible in the entryway.

前雇員們表示，在圣誕節(jié)之前，兩名來自一家曾經(jīng)投資匡恩的中國科技企業(yè)的人在北京的辦公室安營扎寨，希望能逮住孫一桉。幾周后，收債人用沉重的鎖鏈把辦公室的門給鎖上了。不久前，在已經(jīng)關(guān)閉的辦公室，從通道可以看見一張破床和一些椅子上堆著各種廢物。

Someone had scrawled a large handwritten message across the glass doors: “The fraudster network fakes bankruptcy, maliciously owes salaries and cons its employees.”

有人在玻璃門上寫下了幾個大字：“欺詐網(wǎng)絡(luò)假裝破產(chǎn)，惡意欠薪欺騙員工”。

Underneath was an ultimatum: “Pay us the money and we’ll unlock the place.”

下面是最后通牒：“還錢開鎖。”