Senate inquiry in loan case is studying stock transfer
　　 An Education Department official and financial aid directors at three universities received stock in a student loan company from the company's current president in what may have been a violation of securities law, Senate aides looking into the transactions say.
　　 In various documents that have been turned over to staff members working for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the president of the company described the transfers as gifts. But at least one recipient of the shares has said he paid for the stock.
　　 Because the executive, Fabrizio Balestri of Student Loan Xpress, had acquired the shares in a private placement of stock that restricts how it can be transferred, the gifts-or sale-may have run afoul of federal securities laws, said Mr. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Senate education committee. Yesterday he called on federal regulators to investigate the transactions.
　　 The senator's staff has been investigating relations between loan companies and universities. The disclosures last week that the financial aid administrators owned the stock have prompted concerns that they had an incentive to steer students to the loan company. The government official helped oversee lenders in the federal student loan program.
　　 The documents describing the transfers of stock as gifts were signed by Mr. Balestri and his wife. They contradict what one financial aid director said in an interview last week. That official, Lawrence Burt of the University of Texas at Austin, said he had paid $1,000 for 1,500 shares. Mr. Burt could not be reached for comment last night.
　　 Mr. Balestri transferred stock not only to Mr. Burt but also to David Charlow, financial aid director for Columbia's undergraduate college and its engineering school; Catherine Thomas, director of financial aid at the University of Southern California; and Matteo Fontana, general manager in a unit of the Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education. In recent days, all four have been put on leave by their employers.
　　 Senate aides said that for each $10,000 in the private placement, investors had received 10,000 shares and 5,000 warrants, or options to purchase additional stock before a certain date, in Education Lending Group, which was then the parent of Student Loan Xpress. Mr. Balestri obtained $80,000 worth of stock and kept none of it, according to the documents. In a personal list called "memorandums of gift", he wrote that he gave away 80,000 shares to 16 people on Dec. 31, 2001. That was one day before he began work at the company as its president.
　　 The 2001 private placement raised $3.7 million for Education Lending and was authorized by that company's chief executive, Robert deRose. At the time, the stock was trading between $1 and $2 a share. It is not clear who purchased the rest of the shares or whether anyone else at the company had knowledge of Mr. Balestri's transfers.
　　 考研詞匯：
　　 violation[ˌvaiəˈleiʃən]
　　 n.違反, 違背, 妨礙, 侵害, [體]違例
　　 afoul[ə'faul]
　　 a.沖撞的，糾纏的ad.沖突著, 碰撞著
　　 securities law證券法

　　 steer[ˈstiə]
　　 v.駕駛，掌舵
　　 [真題例句] Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as "steering the economy to a soft landing" or "a touch on the brakes", makes it sound like a precise science.[1997年閱讀5]
　　 [例句精譯] 很多用來描述貨幣政策的詞，如"引導(dǎo)經(jīng)濟軟著陸"、"經(jīng)濟剎車"，使貨幣政策聽起來像是一門精確的科學(xué)。
　　 warrant[ˈwɔrənt]
　　 n.①正當(dāng)理由;②許可證，委任狀;v.保證，擔(dān)保
　　 private placement指直接向特定投資者如基金、保險公司及銀行等機構(gòu)投資者出售證券。因不涉及向公眾發(fā)行，一般毋須向證券監(jiān)管當(dāng)局注冊登記。
　　 參考譯文：
　　 參議院深入貸款案件，調(diào)查股票轉(zhuǎn)讓
　　 一名教育部官員和三所大學(xué)的財務(wù)援助部門的主管從一個學(xué)生貸款公司現(xiàn)任總裁手中接受該公司股票，這種行為可能觸犯了證券法，調(diào)查其中交易的參議員幕僚如此說。
　　 在各種提交給為參議員愛德華•M•肯尼迪工作的成員的報告中，該公司總裁都把這些股票轉(zhuǎn)讓稱之為禮物，但至少有一位接受者聲稱他為這些股票付了錢。
馬塞諸塞州民主黨員，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)參議院教育委員會的肯尼迪先生說由于學(xué)生助學(xué)貸款快車公司的總裁法布雷西奧•巴勒斯特里所得股票屬于私募股票，無論作為禮物還是出售都與聯(lián)邦證券法律相違背。昨天他號召聯(lián)邦管理員來調(diào)查這些交易。
　　 參議員的助手們正在調(diào)查貸款公司和大學(xué)之間的關(guān)系。上周披露的財務(wù)援助部門管理者持有股票一事引起了關(guān)注， 因為他們有動機引導(dǎo)學(xué)生去這家貸款公司。而政府官員則幫助監(jiān)管在聯(lián)邦學(xué)生貸款項目中的借款人。
　　 把股票轉(zhuǎn)讓描述為禮物的文件是由巴勒斯特里先生和其夫人簽署的。這些文件與一位財務(wù)援助部門主管上周在一次訪談中的話相矛盾。 那名官員即位于奧斯丁的德克薩斯大學(xué)的勞倫斯•波特說他為1500 張股票支付了一千美元。但昨晚卻無法聯(lián)系上波特先生并得到他對此作出的評論。
　　 巴勒斯特里先生不僅把股票給了波特， 也給了大衛(wèi)•查洛，哥倫比亞研究生院及其工程學(xué)院的財務(wù)援助部門主管;凱瑟琳•托馬斯，南加州大學(xué)財務(wù)援助部門主管;以及馬特奧•方塔納， 教育部聯(lián)邦學(xué)生援助辦公室的總經(jīng)理。最近，以上四位都被其雇主要求離職。
　　 參議員的幕僚說私募中每一萬美元投資人可以獲得一萬張股票和五千張認(rèn)股權(quán)證，或選擇從教育借款公司，學(xué)生貨款快車公司當(dāng)時的上級部門，在特定日期前購買額外的證券。根據(jù)文件巴勒斯特里先生獲得的價值為八萬美元的股票卻沒保留一張 。他在其稱為"禮物備忘錄"的私人清單中寫道，他于2001年12月31日送給十六個人八萬張股票，而那天是他成為公司總經(jīng)理的前一天。
　　 2001年的私募教育借款公司籌集了三百七十萬美元，而且得到該公司總裁羅伯特•德羅斯的授權(quán)。那時該股票每一股的交易價在一到兩美元之間。無法得知是誰購買了剩下的股票，或者該公司是否有其他人知道巴勒斯特里先生所做的股票轉(zhuǎn)讓。