根据梅丽莎·辛·索姆·塞夫（Melissa Shin Som Seif）的陈述，这位金融企业家正卷入加拿大顶级证券监管机构的一起备受关注的执法案件中。她表示，针对她及其公司的处罚措施正在抑制该国的创新氛围。
Seif, the finance entrepreneur at the center of a high-profile enforcement case by Canada’s top securities watchdog, said the decision to go after him and his firm is putting a chill on innovation in the country. Last year, the Ontario Securities Commission alleged that Toronto-based Purpose Investments Inc. made false or misleading statements about its use of environmental, social and governance factors in investment decisions.
去年，安大略省证券委员会指控总部位于多伦多的Purpose Investments Inc.公司在投资决策中关于环境、社会和治理（ESG）因素的表述存在虚假或误导性内容。该监管机构指出，这家管理着330亿加元（约合233亿美元）资产的公司，将某些基金宣传为符合ESG标准的基金，但实际上这些基金并不符合相关标准。
The regulator says the firm, which manages C$33 billion ($23.3 billion), marketed and sold some funds as ESG-friendly when they were not. The commission is also pursuing Seif, Purpose’s founder and chief executive officer, saying he failed to stop the claims.
安大略省证券委员会同时也对塞夫本人（Purpose公司的创始人兼首席执行官）进行了调查，认为她未能阻止这些虚假宣传行为。在最严重的处罚情况下，塞夫可能会被禁止在安大略省的投资行业担任高级管理职务。
At the extreme end of penalties, Seif could be banned from being a senior executive in Ontario’s investment industry. So on Friday, Seif did something unusual — making closing arguments in his own defense rather than relying solely on his lawyers, and trying to frame the case against him as one that may cause greater economic harm.
因此，上周五塞夫采取了不同寻常的举动：她亲自为自己辩护，而没有完全依赖律师的帮助，并试图将这起案件描述成可能对经济造成更大危害的案例。
Both Seif and his company have argued that they were taking an innovative approach to ESG before specific regulatory guidelines were put in place.
塞夫及其公司均辩称，在具体的监管指南出台之前，他们就已经采取了创新的ESG管理方法。
“When leadership is judged years later by the standards that did not exist at the time, it sends a powerful and negative message. To innovators, it says, ‘Wait.’ To leaders, it says, ‘Don’t be too ambitious,’” Seif said as part of an eight-minute statement Friday, the hearing’s final day.
“当领导者的表现需要根据多年后才制定的标准来评判时，这会传递出一个非常消极的信息。对于创新者来说，这意味着‘请等待’；而对于领导者来说，则意味着‘不要过于雄心勃勃’。”塞夫在周五的听证会上发表了长达八分钟的陈述，这也是听证会的最后一天。
Tim Moseley, who chaired the panel of the Capital Markets Tribunal, the body that’s hearing the case, called Seif’s decision to make his own closing argument “unprecedented.”The proceedings come at a moment when Canada is pushing to attract more international capital.
蒂姆·莫斯利（Tim Moseley）担任负责审理该案件的资本市场法庭（Capital Markets Tribunal）的主席，他称塞夫（Seif）决定自行进行最终陈词的决定“前所未有”。目前，加拿大正致力于吸引更多国际资本；上周，总理马克·卡尼（Mark Carney）邀请了全球多家顶尖投资机构和银行的负责人前往多伦多参加“加拿大投资峰会”（Canada Investment Summit）。加拿大政府正在改革企业税收制度，并加快监管流程，旨在吸引投资者参与那些能够推动经济繁荣与创新的项目。
Prime Minister Mark Carney invited the heads of many of the world’s top investment firms and banks to Toronto last week for the Canada Investment Summit. He’s changing the corporate tax system and adopting faster regulatory reviews, with the aim of luring investors into projects that can create a wealthier and more innovative economy. For its part, the OSC has stated throughout the proceedings that the case is mainly about one thing — improper marketing from a fund manager that inflated its ESG claims to appeal to retail investors who care about equality and the envrionment.
另一方面，加拿大证券交易委员会（OSC）在整个审理过程中始终强调：本案的核心问题在于：该基金管理公司存在不当营销行为——该公司夸大了自身的环境、社会和治理（ESG）方面的表现，以此来吸引那些关注平等与环境保护的散户投资者。
Less than 35% of Purpose’s assets in 2019 fell into the ESG category, the OSC alleges, despite the company saying it was 75%.
OSC指出，尽管该公司声称其2019年的资产中75%属于ESG类别，但实际上这一比例仅为35%左右。
“It is really just a classic case of false and misleading advertising,” Alvin Qian, a lawyer for the OSC, said earlier in tribunal hearings that stretched 20 days of testimony over five months and included thousands of files.
“这其实就是一个典型的虚假宣传案例，”OSC的律师阿尔文·钱（Alvin Qian）在长达五个月的审理过程中表示。整个审理过程共持续了20天，涉及数千份文件。
The proceedings were at times contentious, with a particularly testy exchange between Seif and Qian taking place in July as to whether a former Purpose employee correctly understood the definition of ESG. But there were also moments of levity, such as when the parties commiserated about the weak air conditioning and joked about starting a crowdfunding campaign to install new furniture in the hearing room.
审理过程中时常出现激烈争论——尤其是在7月份，塞夫与钱之间就一名前公司员工是否正确理解了ESG的定义展开了激烈交锋。不过，审理过程中也有一些轻松的瞬间：比如各方曾抱怨会议室的空调效果不佳，并开玩笑说可以发起众筹活动来购买新家具；还有一次，塞夫将两个概念误称为“diabolically”（“恶魔般地”）对立，而他的律师第二天提到这一点时，塞夫开玩笑说自己整晚都在为这个错误而烦恼。
At another point, Seif said two concepts were “diabolically” instead of “diametrically” opposed. When his lawyer brought it up the next day, Seif quipped that he’d spent the night worrying about his mistake.
OSC明确表示，他们的诉讼目的并非针对企业的“漂绿”行为（即企业表面上追求环保、社会责任等目标，但实际上并未真正履行这些承诺），也不是针对ESG理念本身。
The OSC has taken pains to state that its case is not about greenwashing or ESG.
“归根结底，这起案件的核心问题是保护投资者的利益，”钱（Qian）在周五的最终陈词中表示。他指出，投资者可能认为企业的 ESG（环境、社会和治理）承诺能够为企业带来价值并提升其投资回报；不过，加拿大证券交易委员会（OSC）的文件中并未提及任何投资者因此遭受损失的情况。
“Ultimately, this is a case about investor protection,” Qian said Friday in his closing arguments, noting that investors may have seen the ESG claims as bringing value and improving their returns. The OSC’s filings did not allege any investor losses.
目前，全球的金融监管机构和投资者都在逐渐减少对 ESG 项目的支持。这一趋势因美国总统唐纳德·特朗普去年重新执政而进一步加速——特朗普明确支持依赖化石燃料的产业，并反对任何促进多样性和包容性的政策。
The proceedings are wrapping up at a time when financial regulators and investors worldwide are pulling back on ESG efforts. The trend was accelerated by last year’s return to power of US President Donald Trump, who vocally supports fossil-fuel-intensive industries and is opposed to diversity and inclusion initiatives.
在加拿大，资源开采行业也正在经历复兴：卡尼（Carney）政府正在取消对石油、天然气和采矿开发的种种限制。
Resource-extractive industries are also enjoying a resurgence in Canada, as Carney strips back barriers to oil and gas and mining development.
塞夫（Seif）在周五的陈述中也提到了这一现象，他认为加拿大证券交易委员会本应将资源用于更重要的领域。他说：“对所有加拿大人来说，这起案件考验了他们对监管机构是否真正关注最紧迫问题的信心。”资本市场法庭将在未来几个月内公布裁决结果。
Seif seemed to point to this dynamic in his statement on Friday when arguing that the OSC’s resources would have been better spent elsewhere. “For all Canadians,” he said, the case “tests their confidence that their regulator is focused on the priorities that matter most.”The Capital Markets Tribunal will announce its decision in the coming months.