《财富》杂志（Fortune）掌握的企业保密信息显示，米特•罗姆尼离开贝恩资本、加入盐湖城冬奥运组委会之后，确实没有再参与管理贝恩资本的投资活动。上周早些时候，罗姆尼离开贝恩资本的具体时间成为媒体关注的焦点。当天，《波士顿环球报》（The Boston Globe）还曾发表文章称，罗姆尼积极参与贝恩资本管理的时间绝对不像他本人及其竞选团队声称的那么短。该报援引的资料大部分来自美国证监会的文件。文件显示，在2002年之前，或者说在罗姆尼正式离开贝恩资本、加入盐湖城冬奥会组委会三年之后，罗姆尼仍是贝恩资本的CEO和单一股东。

    这些说法与上周戴维•考恩在《琼斯母亲》杂志（Mother Jones）上的说法非常类似，当时我们也提出了质疑。

    如今，《财富》杂志已经掌握了支持罗姆尼说法的新证据。

    2000年6月，贝恩资本公布了其第七只私募股权基金的发行文件。文件中包括对基金管理团队的说明。这部分的开头如下：

    以下为贝恩资本高级私募股权投资专家的个人履历。同时列出负责七号基金关联基金Brookside与Sankaty日常事务的投资专家信息。

    之后，文件介绍了该私募股权基金的18位基金经理。米特•罗姆尼不在此列。在一只关联共同投资基金的文件中同样没有找到与罗姆尼相关的信息。该基金私人配售募股说明书的日期是2000年9月。

    另外一条证据来自贝恩资本首次推出的风险投资基金——贝恩资本风险投资基金（Bain Capital Venture Fund），该基金的私人配售募股说明书日期为2001年1月。在“主要投资专家”或日常运营或投资委员会人员名单中都没有罗姆尼的名字。

    这些证据可能是奥巴马竞选团队所不愿意看到的。当天，奥巴马的竞选团队一直对《环球报》的报道幸灾乐祸（甚至打算召开新闻发布会来讨论这件事）。

    据《环球报》报道，奥巴马的发言人斯蒂芬妮•卡特称：“之前罗姆尼竞选州长以及这次竞选总统的时候，他一直都信誓旦旦地表示，1999年2月，他离开贝恩资本加入了盐湖城冬奥会组委会，因此，之后因贝恩投资活动造成的破产和裁员都与他无关。现在，我们终于知道了真相，他一直在撒谎。”

    而贝恩资本同一时期的资料显示，罗姆尼自称不再参与贝恩资本的经营管理，确实是实情，但需要注意的是，这并不等同于他与公司不再有任何法律或财务关系。

    正如《财富》杂志之前所说，罗姆尼在接到领导盐湖城冬奥会组委会的邀请之后，便突然离开贝恩资本，他的这一举动甚至都不在有组织的过渡计划之内；当时的盐湖城奥组委曾一度陷入混乱，甚至失控。此外，1999年2月的时候，罗姆尼到底是将永久离开贝恩资本，还是将在不久后回归，当时的情况并不明朗。1994年，他曾参加美国参议院议员竞选，结果惜败于泰德•肯尼迪，之后他便重新回到了贝恩。2002年，盐湖城冬奥会成功举办，而罗姆尼决定再次参加竞选。直到这时，他才正式放弃自己在公司的职务和对公司的所有权。在此之前，他一直在履行自己的法律义务，比如签署某些文件等，但公司投资与管理事务的实际决策者却另有其人。在获悉贝恩资本公布的信息之后，奥巴马的发言人本•拉波特通过电子邮件发表了下面这则声明：

    “米特•罗姆尼要么是在误导美国公众，要么是向美国证监会隐瞒了真相。罗姆尼曾声称，自从1999年以来，他没有任何管理贝恩资本的权利或责任，结果证明他在撒谎。不论他是否是某项具体交易的管理委员会成员，他始终都是公司董事长、CEO和董事会主。，所以，对于贝恩资本所做的每一项投资和每一个决定，他都负有不可推卸的法律责任。”

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Mitt Romney did not manage Bain Capital's investments after leaving to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, according to confidential firm documents obtained by Fortune.

    The timing of Romney's departure from Bain became a lightning rod earlier today, when The Boston Globepublished an article suggesting that Romney remained actively involved with the firm longer than he and his campaign have claimed. The sourcing is largely SEC documents that list Romney as Bain Capital's CEO and sole shareholder through 2002 -- or three years after Romney officially left to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

    These claims are very similar to ones made last week by David Corn in Mother Jones, which we disputed at the time.

    Now Fortune has obtained new evidence that supports Romney's version of events.

    Bain Capital began circulating offering documents for its seventh private equity fund in June 2000. Those documents include several pages specifying fund management. The section begins:

    Set forth below is information regarding the background of the senior private equity investment professionals of Bain Capital. Also listed are certain investment professionals responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the Brookside and Sankaty funds, which are affiliated funds of Fund VII.

    It then goes on to list 18 managers of the private equity fund. Mitt Romney is not among them. Same goes for an affiliated co-investment fund, whose private placement memorandum is dated September 2000.

    Then there is Bain Capital Venture Fund -- the firm's first dedicated venture capital effort -- whose private placement memorandum is dated January 2001. Romney also isn't listed among its "key investment professionals," or as part of its day-to-day operations or investment committee.

    All of this could prove problematic for the Obama campaign, which has spent they day crowing over the Globe story (going so far as to hold a media call about it).

    "When Mitt Romney ran for governor and now as he's running for president, he consistently claimed he could not be blamed for bankruptcies and layoffs from Bain investments after February 1999 because he departed for the Olympics," said Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter, according to the Globe. "Now, we know that he wasn't telling the truth."

    But the contemporaneous Bain documents show that Romney was indeed telling the truth about no longer having operational input at Bain -- which, one should note, is different from no longer having legal or financial ties to the firm.

    As Fortune wrote earlier, Romney left Bain suddenly -- rather than as part of an organized transition plan -- after being asked to lead an Olympic organizing committee that had spiraled out of control. Moreover, it was unclear in February 1999 if Romney's leave of absence would be permanent, or if he would return (as he had in 1994, after losing a U.S.Senate race to Ted Kennedy). He didn't formally give up his title and firm ownership until 2002, once the Games had been successful and he was interested in other elective office. In the interim, he continued to fulfill legal obligations such as signing certain documents -- but actual investment and managerial decisions were being made by others.

    After being informed of the Bain Capital documents, Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt emailed over the following statement:

    "Mitt Romney either misled the American people or misrepresented himself to the SEC. Romney has said he had no authority or responsibility for managing Bain since 1999, but that has been proven false. Regardless of whether he was on the management committee for this particular deal, he remained President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board and he was legally responsible for every investment and decision made by Bain."