The US Supreme Court will use its Sept. 30 private conference to consider whether to hear Argentina’s appeal in a clash affecting billions of dollars in defaulted debt. The schedule, revealed on Wednesday on the court’s public docket, means the justices may say as early as Oct. 1 whether they will review a 2012 federal appeals court ruling that requires Argentina to pay holders of defaulted bonds if the country makes payments on restructured debt.
A court hearing in New York scheduled for Thursday midday between hedge funds holders of Argentine defaulted bond and lawyers for the Argentine government was called off on request from the holdouts.
The opening of a new sovereign debt swap announced by Argentine President Cristina Fernández on national television on Monday has received strong support from allies, pledges of neutrality from the main opposition party but also criticisms.
Argentina will send a bill to Congress this week to reopen a debt restructuring for those creditors who haven’t accepted previous swaps after the nation’s 2001 default, said President Cristina Fernandez Monday evening on national television.
Argentine Economy minister Hernán Lorenzino said that the New York appeals court ruling supporting Judge Thomas Griesa decision in favour of paying the hedge funds the 1.3bn dollars they are demanding, was an attempt to take the country back to 2001.
Argentina lost on Friday its appeal of a ruling that would force it to pay in full holders of 1.3 billion dollars in defaulted debt when it makes a payment to investors who took discounted restructured bonds, opening the prospect for a US Supreme Court appeal, which if it happens will push the litigation into 2014.
The US Supreme Court gave hedge funds another month to present their reply following on the request from the Argentine government to review the sentence handed down by Judge Thomas Griesa and partially supported by the Appeals Court.
The Barack Obama administration won’t file a brief next week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Argentina’s appeal in a clash with implications for tens of billions of dollars in defaulted debt, according to a Justice Department spokesman.
In an unprecedented move, the International Monetary Fund plans to ask the US Supreme Court to review Argentina's case in a decade-old legal battle with holdout creditors, because of the implications it could have on sovereign debt restructurings.
The United States Justice, Treasure and State Department officials met on Friday with lawyers both from Argentina and hedge funds that refused to accept the administrations of presidents Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez debt swaps, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.