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In the early 2000s, not long after the war in Afghanistan began, Sater says he met Trump,
據薩特講，2000年代早期，就在阿富汗戰爭開始后不久，他會見了特朗普，
thanks to his work for Bayrock, the real estate company.
這都得益于在房地產公司貝羅克集團工作。
(Neither the White House nor Cohen would comment for this story.)
（美國政府和科恩都拒絕對此發表任何評論。）
Sater raised money for Bayrock from, among others, a wealthy businessman from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan,
薩特為貝羅克集團籌措資金，其中一個來源是哈薩克斯坦（原蘇聯加盟共和國之一）的富商，
and he persuaded people in Trump's orbit—including Cohen, his old friend—to bring his deals before the boss.
薩特還在老板面前和包括老朋友科恩在內的特朗普陣營的人談生意。
Two of the ideas worked out.
有兩個想法奏效了。
Sater and the New York real estate mogul eventually worked on the Trump SoHo in Manhattan and a hotel
薩特和紐約房地產大亨特朗普最終達成合作，包括曼哈頓SoHo特朗普酒店、一家賓館
and condo project in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which failed after the 2008 economic crisis.
以及佛羅里達州勞德代爾堡的公寓項目（此項目后在2008年經濟危機后失敗）。
He and Trump, Sater claims, were friendly but not particularly close.
據薩特稱，薩特和特朗普保持友好關系但并未過分親近。
As Abe Wallach, a former Trump Organization executive, once told the journalist Tim O'Brien,
前特朗普團隊高管亞伯·瓦拉赫曾經在記者蒂姆·奧布萊恩采訪時說，
"It's not very hard to get connected to Donald if you make it known that you have a lot of money and you want to do deals and you want to put his name on it."
“和特朗普產生關聯并不難，只要讓特朗普知道你有錢，想做生意，還想和他合作。”
But Trump eventually distanced himself from Sater,
但特朗普最終還是和薩特疏遠了，
after The New York Times published an article detailing the latter's criminal conviction for assault,
因為此前《紐約時報》發布文章，揭露薩特因為襲擊而定刑，
as well as his role in the stock scam case.
還參與股票欺詐案件。
"If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn't know what he looked like,"
“就算他現在坐在屋子里，我也不知道他長什么樣，”
Trump said of Sater in a 2013 video deposition taken in connection with a civil lawsuit.
特朗普在2013年的一次和民事訴訟案件有關的視頻證詞中如是表示。
Two years later, as Trump was running for president, a reporter asked the Apprentice star about his former business partner,
兩年后，特朗普競選總統時，一位記者問起這位曾經的真人秀節目《學徒》明星以前的商業伙伴薩特，
and he replied:"I'm not that familiar with him."
特朗普回答說:“我跟他不熟。”
For Sater, these comments were hurtful, but he didn't stop trying to work with Trump;
對于薩特來說，這些話是傷人的，但薩特并未停止試圖與特朗普合作；
there was still money to be made.
仍然有利可圖。
Nor did he cease working with the FBI.
薩特也沒有停止和聯邦調查局合作。
Law enforcement officials say that beginning in 2005—and continuing for several years afterward—
執法官員說這始于2005年初，后持續了多年，
Sater helped break up a Russian ring in St. Petersburg that was hacking into the U.S. financial system.
薩特在圣彼得堡幫助分裂了入侵美國財政系統的團伙。
Taddeo, the FBI agent who had summoned Sater back to the U.S. in the pump-and-dump case, worked with him on the case.
塔迪歐是在調查拉高出貨公司時把薩特召回美國的聯邦調查局特工，在打擊黑客團伙時和薩特一起合作。
The two men traveled to Limassol, Cyprus, a popular post-Soviet vacation spot for Russians.
兩人行至塞浦路斯的利馬索爾，這個地方是后蘇聯時代俄羅斯人的度假勝地。
Under the FBI's watch, Sater had infiltrated the hackers, helping them launder money,
在聯邦調查局的監視下，薩特潛入了黑客團伙幫助他們洗錢，
and even met with the group's ringleader in Cyprus.
甚至還會見了該組織在塞浦路斯的頭目。
The irony of this operation is not lost on Sater.
這次行動的諷刺性在薩特身上并沒有喪失。
According to an indictment brought by Mueller, it was allegedly a St.Petersburg outfit, the Internet Research Agency,
根據檢察官穆勒發起的起訴，據稱圣彼得堡的一家互聯網研究機構，
that spread "fake news" in the U.S. before the 2016 election.
于2016總統大選之際在美國傳播“虛假消息”。
I asked Sater whether the FBI has indicated that the cases he worked on were linked to the same group,
我問薩特聯邦調查局是否表明他所合作的案件和同一組人有關，
or to the alleged Democratic National Committee hackers.
或者和民主黨全國委員會黑客有關。
"It could be part of the same group," Sater claims.
“可能是和同一組人的一部分有關，”薩特稱。
"They've told my lawyer that some of the information we gathered is still 'actionable.'"
“他們告訴我的律師我們搜集的某些信息‘仍然可行’。”
(The Department of Justice declined to comment on the matter.)
（美國司法部拒絕就此事置評。）
Either way, in court proceedings and in testimony before Congress,
不管怎樣，在法庭訴訟和國會聽證會上，
various law enforcement officials have consistently vouched for Sater—
各個執法官員都為薩特擔保，
including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who told the Senate Intelligence Committee
包括前司法部長洛蕾塔·林奇，她告訴美國參議院情報委員會，
that he had provided "valuable and sensitive" information to the government when she was running the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn.
她在管理布魯克林管理美國檢察官辦公室時，薩特曾向美國政府提供“有價值和敏感”的信息。
Which is why when Sater was finally sentenced for the stock scam case in 2010—a case brought against him 12 years earlier—he got just a $25,000 fine.
這就是為什么薩特在2010年最終股票欺詐案件（12年前薩特被起訴的案件）判決時，僅是處以2.5萬美元罰款。
For a once-convicted felon who had taken part in a multimillion-dollar scam, that was nothing.
對于一個參與數百萬美元詐騙，曾經被判有罪的重刑犯來說，這點罰款算不了什么。
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