Before SpaceX IPO, investors in China secretly acquired stakes
Before SpaceX IPO, investors in China secretly acquired stakes
在 SpaceX IPO 之前，中国投资者曾秘密入股
A businessman with ties to Chinese military contractors was among the overseas investors who acquired stakes in SpaceX while it was still a private company. An entity linked to the Qatari royal family also took a stake. 一位与中国军工承包商有联系的商人，是 SpaceX 在私有化时期入股的海外投资者之一。一个与卡塔尔王室有关联的实体也持有其股份。
The new details come from a private investor list obtained by ProPublica that sheds light on a particularly delicate issue for Elon Musk’s rocket company: which people in countries like China bought into the company, and how. SpaceX built its business off sensitive US government work like making spy satellites for the Pentagon. 这些新细节来自 ProPublica 获取的一份私人投资者名单，该名单揭示了埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）旗下这家火箭公司一个极其敏感的问题：中国等国家的哪些人购买了该公司股份，以及他们是如何购买的。SpaceX 的业务建立在敏感的美国政府项目之上，例如为五角大楼制造间谍卫星。
While there is no ban on Chinese investment in US military contractors, such investment is heavily regulated. In a sign of its sensitivity to the concerns, SpaceX barred investors from China and Hong Kong from buying shares in its initial public offering last week due to “regulatory and compliance risks,” Bloomberg reported. 虽然美国并未禁止中国对美国军工承包商进行投资，但此类投资受到严格监管。据彭博社报道，SpaceX 对这些担忧表现得十分敏感，出于“监管和合规风险”，该公司在上周的首次公开募股（IPO）中禁止了来自中国和香港的投资者购买股票。
The US government alleges that China has a strategy of using investments in sensitive industries for espionage and to get access to cutting-edge technology. The company’s IPO last week was the largest ever, making Musk the world’s first trillionaire. Musk has extensive business interests in China, where Tesla builds many of its cars. 美国政府指控称，中国有一项战略，即利用对敏感行业的投资进行间谍活动并获取尖端技术。该公司上周的 IPO 是史上规模最大的一次，使马斯克成为全球首位万亿富翁。马斯克在中国拥有广泛的商业利益，特斯拉的许多汽车都在中国制造。
The new records detail at least a dozen investors with addresses in mainland China, Hong Kong, or Russia who acquired stakes in SpaceX years ago through a middleman firm in the US called Tomales Bay Capital. The investments are relatively small, ranging from $800,000 to $40 million, and were made between 2018 and 2021. 这些新记录详细列出了至少十几位地址位于中国大陆、香港或俄罗斯的投资者，他们多年前通过一家名为 Tomales Bay Capital 的美国中间商公司获得了 SpaceX 的股份。这些投资规模相对较小，从 80 万美元到 4000 万美元不等，投资时间在 2018 年至 2021 年之间。
One investment came from an entity owned by David Su, the co-founder of the prominent Beijing venture capital firm MPCi. The Su entity invested $15 million in a SpaceX fund in 2020, according to the investor list. It was not Su’s only foray into the space industry; his company has been a high-profile backer of some of SpaceX’s Chinese competitors. 其中一笔投资来自苏大卫（David Su）拥有的实体，他是北京知名风险投资公司 MPCi 的联合创始人。根据投资者名单，苏氏实体在 2020 年向一个 SpaceX 基金投资了 1500 万美元。这并非苏大卫首次涉足航天工业；他的公司一直是 SpaceX 某些中国竞争对手的高调支持者。
Two satellite companies that Su’s firm invested in were sanctioned by the US government for allegedly assisting the notorious Russian mercenary organization the Wagner Group. One of the companies was sanctioned again last month for allegedly helping Iran attack U.S. military forces during the war. 苏大卫公司投资的两家卫星公司曾因涉嫌协助臭名昭著的俄罗斯雇佣兵组织“瓦格纳集团”而受到美国政府制裁。其中一家公司上个月再次受到制裁，原因据称是协助伊朗在战争期间攻击美国军事力量。
MPCi has also worked with Chinese government investment funds. Last year, the website for China’s Ministry of Science and Technology named Su’s firm as a partner in a state-backed effort to develop the country’s aerospace industry. There is no evidence that Su did anything improper. MPCi 还曾与中国政府引导基金合作。去年，中国科学技术部的网站将苏大卫的公司列为国家支持的航天工业发展项目的合作伙伴。目前没有证据表明苏大卫有任何不当行为。
But the key question from the US government’s perspective would be whether China-based investors got access to nonpublic information about SpaceX’s technology or strategies, said Sarah Bauerle Danzman, an Indiana University professor who has worked for the State Department scrutinizing foreign investments. “If an investor has conflicts of interests with other companies in China—if they could feed that information to competitors—it could be a national security concern,” she said. 印第安纳大学教授、曾为美国国务院审查外国投资的 Sarah Bauerle Danzman 表示，从美国政府的角度来看，关键问题在于中国投资者是否获取了有关 SpaceX 技术或战略的非公开信息。“如果投资者与中国的其他公司存在利益冲突，或者他们可能将这些信息泄露给竞争对手，这可能会引发国家安全担忧，”她说。
In a statement, MPCi said that Su “has not received any nonpublic information of SpaceX.” The statement described Su as “a Singapore citizen who resides in Singapore,” adding: “MPCi is a brand name with different teams and funds. Mr. Su is responsible for the US dollar funds.” According to a 2024 profile of him, Su “spent almost 100 percent of his time in China over the last 20 years.” MPCi 在一份声明中表示，苏大卫“从未收到任何 SpaceX 的非公开信息”。声明称苏大卫是“居住在新加坡的新加坡公民”，并补充道：“MPCi 是一个拥有不同团队和基金的品牌名称。苏先生负责美元基金。”根据 2024 年的一份个人简介，苏大卫“在过去 20 年里几乎 100% 的时间都待在中国”。
A lawyer for Tomales Bay Capital said in a statement that the firm “has not provided any non-public, sensitive information regarding SpaceX to investors.” He said the investors are passive limited partners: “Aside from fund financials that include quarterly valuations, Tomales Bay’s investors have not received any further information regarding SpaceX.” Tomales Bay Capital 的一名律师在声明中表示，该公司“从未向投资者提供任何有关 SpaceX 的非公开敏感信息”。他表示，这些投资者是消极的有限合伙人：“除了包含季度估值的基金财务报表外，Tomales Bay 的投资者没有收到任何关于 SpaceX 的进一步信息。”
“The vast majority, if not all, of the investors included on the unsealed Tomales Bay investor list are not citizens of any foreign adversary, including Russia or China,” said the lawyer, Ryan Stonerock, “and certainly none of them are agents of Russia or China, or any other foreign adversary.” He added that some of the investors “may have mailing addresses listed” in Russia or China but do not actually live there “and are in fact citizens and residents of the United States or other countries that are not foreign adversaries.” 律师 Ryan Stonerock 表示：“Tomales Bay 解封的投资者名单中，绝大多数（如果不是全部）投资者都不是包括俄罗斯或中国在内的任何外国敌对国家的公民，当然他们中也没有人是俄罗斯、中国或其他任何外国敌对国家的代理人。”他补充说，一些投资者“可能在名单上留有俄罗斯或中国的邮寄地址”，但实际上并不住在那里，“他们实际上是美国或其他非敌对国家的公民和居民。”
SpaceX did not respond to questions. One of the Chinese space companies sanctioned by the US government, Spacety, previously denied providing support to the Wagner Group. All the investors located in China or Russia that ProPublica identified appeared to be either wealthy businesspeople or their children. SpaceX 没有回应置评请求。被美国政府制裁的中国航天公司之一“天仪研究院”（Spacety）此前曾否认向瓦格纳集团提供支持。ProPublica 确定的所有位于中国或俄罗斯的投资者，似乎要么是富有的商人，要么是他们的子女。
The new documents come from a corporate dispute in Delaware involving Tomales Bay Capital. The court records were unsealed this month after ProPublica moved to make them public, with the help of attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the law firm Shaw Keller. Tomales Bay Capital appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of ProPublica. 这些新文件来自特拉华州一起涉及 Tomales Bay Capital 的公司纠纷。在“新闻自由记者委员会”（Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press）和 Shaw Keller 律师事务所律师的帮助下，ProPublica 申请公开这些法庭记录，记录于本月解封。Tomales Bay Capital 向特拉华州最高法院提起上诉，但法院最终裁定支持 ProPublica。
Tomales Bay Capital is run by an investor named Iqbaljit Kahlon, who has long been close to SpaceX’s leadership and even involved in the company’s operations. SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen, who’s worked there for 15 years, testified that Kahlon “has been with the company in one form or fashion longer than I have.” Tomales Bay Capital 由一位名叫 Iqbaljit Kahlon 的投资者经营，他长期与 SpaceX 高层关系密切，甚至参与了公司的运营。在 SpaceX 工作了 15 年的首席财务官 Bret Johnsen 作证称，Kahlon “以某种形式与公司共事的时间比我还长”。
Before SpaceX went public, Kahlon made a fortune by acting as a middleman for investors hoping to add the rocket company to their portfolio. His firm regularly bought SpaceX stock, packaged it into investment funds and then charged fees to investors who bought pieces of those funds. In a 2021 pitch to one potential investor in China, Kahlon promised special access to SpaceX, including quarterly updates on the company’s business development, “visits to SpaceX, and the opportunities to interview with SpaceX’s CFO,” according to the meeting minutes, which later appeared in court records. 在 SpaceX 上市之前，Kahlon 通过为希望将这家火箭公司纳入投资组合的投资者充当中间人而发了大财。他的公司定期购买 SpaceX 股票，将其打包成投资基金，然后向购买这些基金份额的投资者收取费用。根据后来出现在法庭记录中的会议纪要，在 2021 年向中国的一位潜在投资者推介时，Kahlon 承诺提供进入 SpaceX 的特殊渠道，包括公司业务发展的季度更新、“参观 SpaceX，以及与 SpaceX 首席财务官面谈的机会”。