Argentina must pay US$5.4 billion to more than 500 “me-too” holders of defaulted debt before it can pay the majority of its creditors, a US judge ruled on Friday. Argentina anticipated it would appeal the ruling.
The Argentine government has turned down a plea from mediator Daniel Pollack to return to the negotiating table with holdout investors, with the Economy Ministry considering that talks with the speculative funds, so-called 'vulture funds', would be inappropriate given the behavior of the litigants.
Argentina’s central bank sent regulators to inspect Citibank's headquarters in Buenos Aires on Monday after the head of the branch was suspended amid a legal battle over Argentina's debt. Regulators are working to verify whether the bank was able to maintain normal operations following CEO Gabriel Ribisich's suspension last week, the government news agency Telam said.
The Argentine government will present on Thursday its appellant’s brief over the contempt of court ordered by New York Judge Thomas Griesa, the Economy Ministry has confirmed. Griesa had ruled Argentina in contempt of his orders due to working on a plan to shift control over payments of its restructured debt to Buenos Aires.
US holders of defaulted Argentine bonds have stepped up their campaign for full repayment of their loans by detailing how 14 senior Argentine officials experienced “dramatic and often unexplained increases” in their personal wealth during service in the Kirchner administrations.
US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan this Wednesday morning will hear Argentina’s appeal against US Judge Thomas Griesa’s order to Argentine banks to provide information on the state’s assets.
Lawyers representing the Argentine government and the Central Bank have defended the country's stance on the debt conflict in a hearing with the New York Second Circuit Appeals Court, rejecting the notion that holdout investors could confiscate reserves or assets belonging to the financial entity.
The two-day summit of Ibero American leaders meeting in Mexico, besides the traditional declaration, also put out a special statement in support of Argentina and its ongoing struggle with speculative funds.
Argentina's government offered this week to make full early payment on a local dollar-denominated bond to head off speculation that its legal battle with U.S. hedge funds will make it unable to service its debt.
Demands against Argentina by so-called “me-too” bondholders, who are asking to be paid in the same conditions as Elliot and Aurelius Managment holdouts, are starting to pile up as holders of Argentine bonds issued under German law who didn’t take part of the country’s debt swap filed a new complaint at a United States court to demand full payment.